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 hindwin ...

Biology

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

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

), feeding in grass stems (

Anthomyzidae Anthomyzidae is small, slender, yellow to black Fly, 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 a ...

and

Opomyzidae Opomyzidae is a family of Acalyptratae, acalyptrate Fly, 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. ...

), 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. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or wart ...

(''

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), feeding on sap flows of trees (some Aulacigastridae,

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 (biology), family of fly, 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 pre ...

), 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 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 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 ...

References

External links

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