Acrocerinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...

Acroceridae The Acroceridae are a small family of odd-looking flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known. The most frequently applied common ...

. They are small distinctive

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

whose

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e are

endoparasites Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s. Adult hunchback-flies visit flowers to feed on nectar. Traditionally the subfamily included the genera now placed in

Cyrtinae Cyrtinae is a subfamily of the Acroceridae (small-headed flies). Their larvae are endoparasites of araneomorph spiders in the subgroup Entelegynae. Genera The subfamily includes twelve extant genera and two extinct: * '' Asopsebius'' Nartshuk, 19 ...

and

Ogcodinae Ogcodinae is a subfamily of the Acroceridae (small-headed flies). Their larvae are endoparasites of araneomorph spiders in the subgroup Entelegynae The Entelegynae or entelegynes are a subgroup of araneomorph spiders, the largest of the two ma ...

, but the subfamily in this sense was found to be polyphyletic and was split up in 2019.

Systematics

The subfamily includes two extant genera and one extinct: * '' Acrocera'' Meigen, 1803 * '' Carvalhoa'' Koçak & Kemal, 2013 * †'' Schlingeromyia'' Grimaldi & Hauser ''in'' Grimaldi, Arillo, Cumming & Hauser, 2011 The extinct fly genus †'' Burmacyrtus'' Grimaldi & Hauser ''in'' Grimaldi, Arillo, Cumming & Hauser, 2011 was originally placed in this subfamily as well, but according to Gillung & Winterton (2017) it is not considered an acrocerid.

Systematics

References

Further reading