The Opomyzoidea 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 ...

Biology

Opomyzoids show a range of lifestyles including mining plant leaves (many

Agromyzidae The Agromyzidae are a family commonly referred to as the leaf-miner flies, for the feeding habits of their larvae, most of which are leaf miners on various plants. A worldwide family of roughly 2,500 species, they are small, some with wing l ...

), feeding in grass stems (

Anthomyzidae Anthomyzidae is small, slender, yellow to black flies with narrow and elongated wings, which may have distinct markings. Some species have greatly reduced wings. Fewer than 100 species are known, mostly from Europe. Although they occur in all ma ...

and

Opomyzidae Opomyzidae is a family of acalyptrate Diptera. They are generally small, slender, yellow, brown or black coloured flies. The larval food plants are grasses, including cereal crops, the adults are mainly found in open habitats. Some species bein ...

), forming plant

galls Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...

(''

Fergusonina ''Fergusonina'', the sole genus in the family of Fergusoninidae, are gall-forming flies. There are about 40 species in the genus, all of them producing galls on ''Eucalyptus'', ''Melaleuca'', ''Corymbia'', and ''Metrosideros'' species (all in t ...

''), feeding on fungi (some Anthomyzidae and

Asteiidae Asteiidae is a small but widespread family of acalyptrate flies or Diptera. About 130 species in 10 genera have been described worldwide. They are rarely collected. Family description For terms see Morphology of Diptera. Adult asteiids are ...

), feeding on sap flows of trees (some

Aulacigastridae Aulacigastridae is a very small family of flies known as sap flies. The family Stenomicridae used to be included within this family, but was moved by Papp in 1984. They are found in all the Ecoregions. Description For terms see Morphology of Di ...

Odiniidae Odiniidae is a small family of flies. There are only 58 described species but there are representatives in all the major biogeographic realms. Life histories are known for only few species of ''Odinia'', and no biological information is availa ...

and

Periscelididae Periscelididae is a family of flies. Description Periscelididae are small flies, 3-4 mm long. The head is distinctly broader than high and the cheek is broad and bulging posteriorly. The postocellar bristles are present and diverging. The ocella ...

), living in galleries of wood-boring insects (Odiniidae) or in water-filled cavities of plants (

phytotelmata Phytotelma (plural phytotelmata) is a small water-filled cavity in a terrestrial plant. The water accumulated within these plants may serve as the habitat for associated fauna and flora. A rich literature in German summarised by Thienemann (19 ...

; Aulacigastridae,

Neurochaetidae Neurochaetidae is a family of flies belonging to the order Diptera 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 si ...

and Periscelididae). However, the biology of most opomyzoid families is poorly known.

Phylogeny

The phylogeny of Opomyzoidea is controversial, with different authors assigning different families and different relationships among families. One study using molecular analysis concluded that the superfamily is not

monophyletic 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 ...

References

External links

Tree of Life page on Opomyzoidea
Diptera superfamilies {{Opomyzoidea-stub