The
Brachycera
The Brachycera are a suborder of the order Diptera. It is a major suborder consisting of around 120 families. Their most distinguishing characteristic is reduced antenna segmentation.
Description
A summary of the main physical characteristic ...
n infraorder Tabanomorpha is a small group that consists primarily of two large families, the
Tabanidae (horse and deer flies) and
Rhagionidae (snipe flies), and an assortment of very small affiliated families, most of which have been (or could be, or sometimes are) included within the Rhagionidae.
Description
Adult Tabanomorpha typically have a convex face and antenna bearing styli. The forewing has a costa along its entire perimeter (though its posterior portion may be weaker), while the tarsi have pulvilliform empodia.
Males have eyes that are nearly or fully holoptic
and have an endoaedeagal process which is usually quite long and distinct.
Females have the cercus always flattened.
Larval
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
Tabanomorpha have a retractable head capsule and a brush of setae just under the fold of the integument.
Ecology
Adults of most species feed on nectar and pollen, but blood-feeding (
hematophagy
Hematophagy (sometimes spelled haematophagy or hematophagia) is the practice by certain animals of feeding on blood (from the Greek words αἷμα ' "blood" and φαγεῖν ' "to eat"). Since blood is a fluid tissue rich in nutritious ...
) occurs in the majority of female
Tabanidae, some Rhagionidae and an
Athericidae. Blood-feeding is believed to have evolved multiple times within the group.
Larvae are mostly
predators in terrestrial, aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats.
Classification
The infraorder
Vermileonomorpha is often included within the Tabanomorpha, though the most recent classifications place them as its
sister taxon
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 ...
. There are also some classifications that place the
Nemestrinoidea within the Tabanomorpha, though this is not widely accepted. There are two superfamily-level lineages currently recognized within Tabanomorpha; the
Tabanoidea and the
Rhagionoidea (the latter comprising
Austroleptidae,
Bolbomyiidae, and
Rhagionidae).
[Kerr, P.H. 2010: Phylogeny and classification of Rhagionidae, with implications for Tabanomorpha (Diptera: Brachycera)]
''Zootaxa''
2592: 1–133.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q855002
Insect infraorders