Ephydroidea
Notiphila watanabei
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Section: Schizophora
Subsection: Acalyptratae
Superfamily: Ephydroidea
Families

The Ephydroidea are a superfamily of muscomorph flies, with over 6,000 species.[1]

Description

A characteristic of adult Ephydroidea (shared with their relatives such as Calyptratae) is that the pedicel of the antenna has a dorsoventral seam or incision.[1]

Ecology

Ephydroidea live in many habitats and have diverse diets. For example, most Ephydridae have larvae that are aquatic/semi-aquatic and feed as browsers or filter-feeders, but there are also species with terrestrial larvae that are egg predators, egg parasitoids, leaf miners or saprophages. Most Drosophilidae breed in rotting material where they feed on yeast and bacteria, but there are also species that attack whole fruits.[2]

Phylogeny

A 2021 analysis found Ephydroidea to be the sister taxon to Calyptratae.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Bayless, Keith M.; Trautwein, Michelle D.; Meusemann, Karen; Shin, Seunggwan; Petersen, Malte; Donath, Alexander; Podsiadlowski, Lars; Mayer, Christoph; Niehuis, Oliver; Peters, Ralph S.; Meier, Rudolf (2021-02-08). "Beyond Drosophila: resolving the rapid radiation of schizophoran flies with phylotranscriptomics". BMC Biology. 19 (1): 23. doi:10.1186/s12915-020-00944-8. ISSN 1741-7007. PMC 7871583. PMID 33557827.
  2. ^ El-Hawagry, Magdi S.; Zatwarnicki, Tadeusz; Ebrahim, Ayman M. (2018-07-10). "Catalogue of the Egyptian Ephydroidea (Diptera: Schizophora: Acalyptratae)". Zootaxa. 4444 (3): 201–246–201–246. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4444.3.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 30313921. S2CID 52973568.


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