The Lauxanioidea are a

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

flies Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

that includes the two large families, the

Lauxaniidae The Lauxaniidae are a family of acalyptrate flies. They generally are small flies (length 7 mm or less) with large compound eyes that often are brightly coloured in life, sometimes with characteristic horizontal stripes, such as in '' Cestr ...

and

Chamaemyiidae The Chamaemyiidae are a small family of acalyptrate flies with less than 200 species described worldwide. The larvae of these small flies are active and predatory and are often used for biological control of aphids, scale insects, and simil ...

, and the small family

Celyphidae The Celyphidae, commonly known as beetle flies or beetle-backed flies, are a family of flies (order Diptera). About 115 species in about 9 genera are known chiefly from the Oriental and Afrotropic biogeographic regions with one lineage in the ...

. Generally, they are small to medium, densely populated, coloured flies. The Chamaemyiidae live as parasites on insects. The family Celyphidae look like beetles. Some authors also recognize the family Cremifaniidae, but most place this in the Chamaemyiidae.

Description

The superfamily has three

synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to hav ...

(features present in all members due to a common ancestor): convergent postocellar bristles, an abbreviated anal vein in the wing, and fusion of male abdominal

tergites A ''tergum'' (Latin for "the back"; plural ''terga'', associated adjective tergal) is the dorsal ('upper') portion of an arthropod segment other than the head. The anterior edge is called the 'base' and posterior edge is called the 'apex' or 'mar ...

7 and 8. Within the superfamily, Celyphidae can be distinguished from other families by their scutellum, which is shiny, enlarged and covers most of the abdomen, similar to a beetle's

elytra An elytron (; ; , ) is a modified, hardened forewing of beetles (Coleoptera), though a few of the true bugs ( Hemiptera) such as the family Schizopteridae are extremely similar; in true bugs, the forewings are called hemelytra (sometimes altern ...

. Lauxaniidae are yellowish-brown or black, usually have iridescent reddish/purplish or greenish eyes, and the wings are sometimes patterned. Chamaemyiidae are usually silvery gray with black spots, sometimes shiny and black.

Ecology

Larvae of most Lauxaniidae and Celyphidae feed on decaying vegetation. Some species of Lauxaniidae only occur in bird nests. Adult lauxaniids may visit flowers. Larvae of all known Chamaemyiidae have a rather different lifestyle, being predators of aphids and scale insects.

Phylogeny

A 2017 phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial genomes confirmed the

monophyly In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gr ...

of Lauxaniidae and of Celyphidae, and that these two families are

sister groups In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2327915 Diptera superfamilies