Pelecorhynchidae is a small

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 ...

. All of the genera were originally placed in the family

Rhagionidae Rhagionidae or snipe flies are a small family of flies. They get their name from the similarity of their often prominent proboscis that looks like the beak of a snipe. Description Rhagionidae are medium-sized to large flies with slender bodies a ...

, and their elevation to family rank has been controversial. Other phylogenetic analyses have supported Pelecorhynchidae as a distinct clade from

. The adults of ''Pelecorhynchus'' mostly feed on nectar of '' Leptospermum'' flowers.

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 have been collected in the damp margins of swamp areas, where they feed on

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. T ...

Distribution

The genus ''Pelecorhynchus'' is known from Australia and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The genera ''Glutops'' and ''Pseudoerinna'' are distributed in the Nearctic and eastern Palaearctic.

References

Brachycera families Diptera of Australasia Diptera of South America Taxa named by Günther Enderlein {{Tabanoidea-stub