Sciaroidea is a
superfamily in the infraorder
Bibionomorpha. There are about 16 families and more than 15,000 described species in Sciaroidea. Most of its constituent families are various
gnats (e.g.
fungus gnats).
Description
As
nematoceran flies, sciaroid adults generally have long segmented
antennae, while their larvae have a well-developed head and mouthparts.
Aside from this, sciaroids vary in appearance. For example, Sciaridae adults have each eye extended dorsally to form an "eye bridge", a feature not found in related families. Cecidomyiidae adults have a distinctive reduced wing venation, while their larvae are atypical for nematoceran larvae in having a very small head capsule.
Ecology
Most fungus gnats (Sciaroidea excluding Cecidomyiidae) live in forests with their larvae occurring in fungi, dead wood and soil. There are some which live in wetlands such as
fens. Several genera of Sciaridae and Mycetophilidae may reach high abundances in damp buildings with wet organic matter.
Some species of Sciaridae and Cecidomyiidae are among the rare Diptera that spend their entire lives in soil. These are
wingless as adults.
Sciaroid larvae typically feed on
fungi
A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
but there are some which form plant
galls (many Cecidomyiidae) or prey on other invertebrates (
Keroplatidae
Keroplatidae is a family of small flies known as fungus gnats. About 950 species are described, but the true number of species is undoubtedly much higher. The long-beaked fungus gnats, formerly placed in a separate family Lygistorrhinidae, hav ...
).
Phylogeny
A 2016 molecular
phylogenetic
In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...
analysis confirmed that Sciaroidea is a
monophyletic
In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria:
# the grouping contains its own most recent co ...
group and should include both Cecidomyiidae and Ditomyiidae.
Families
These 15 families belong to the superfamily Sciaroidea:
*
Bolitophilidae
*
Cecidomyiidae
Cecidomyiidae is a family of diptera, flies known as gall midges or gall gnats. As the name implies, the larvae of most gall midges feed within plant tissue, creating abnormal plant growths called galls. Cecidomyiidae are very fragile small in ...
– gall midges and wood midges, sometimes excluded from Sciaroidea
*
Diadocidiidae
*
Ditomyiidae
*
Keroplatidae
Keroplatidae is a family of small flies known as fungus gnats. About 950 species are described, but the true number of species is undoubtedly much higher. The long-beaked fungus gnats, formerly placed in a separate family Lygistorrhinidae, hav ...
(incl.
Lygistorrhinidae ) – long-beaked & predatory fungus gnats
*
Mycetophilidae
*
Rangomaramidae – long-winged fungus gnats
*
Sciaridae – dark-winged fungus gnats
*
† Antefungivoridae
* †
Archizelmiridae
* †
Eoditomyiidae
* †
Mesosciophilidae
* †
Paraxymyiidae
* †
Pleciofungivoridae
* †
Protopleciidae
References
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3952308
Sciaroidea
Diptera superfamilies