Nemestrinidae

Nemestrinidae
Nemestrinidae wing veins
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Suborder: Brachycera
Infraorder: Asilomorpha
Superfamily: Nemestrinoidea
Family: Nemestrinidae
Subfamilies
  • Archinemestriinae
  • Trichopsideinae
  • Hirmoneurinae
Neorhynchocephalus tauscheri (10) and Hirmoneura obscura (11) in Europäischen Zweiflügeligen

Nemestrinidae, or tangle-veined flies is a family of flies in the superfamily Nemestrinoidea, closely related to Acroceridae. The family is small but distributed worldwide, with about 300 species in 34 genera. Larvae are endoparasitoids of either grasshoppers (Trichopsideinae) or scarab beetles (Hirmoneurinae). Some are considered important in the control of grasshopper populations. Adults are often observed on flowers.

Fossil history

Fossils of Nemestrinidae are known from several localities of various ages in Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Western Europe and North America, with the oldest fossils being found in the Middle-Upper Jurassic Karabastau Formation.[1][2][3]

References

  1. ↑ Mostovski, M.B. 1998. Revision of the tangle-vein flies (Diptera, Nemestrinidae) described by B.B. Rohdendorf, and new taxa of nemestrinids from the Upper Jurassic of Kazakhstan. Paleontological Journal, 4: 47-53.
  2. ↑ Ansorge, J., Mostovski, M.B. 2000. Redescription of Prohirmoneura jurassica Handlirsch 1906 (Diptera: Nemestrinidae) from the Lower Tithonian lithographic limestone of Eichstaett. N. Jb. Geol. Palaeont. Mh. 4: 235-243.
  3. ↑ Wedmann, S. 2007. A nemestrinid fly (Insecta: Diptera: Nemestrinidae: cf. Hirmoneura) from the Eocene Messel pit (Germany). Journal of Paleontology 81 (5): 1114-1117.

External links

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