Flies, Mosquitoes
Order Diptera
House fly. Photo: R Major © Australian Museum
Crane flies mating. Photo: L X Silberbauer © Australian Museum
Robber fly. Photo: © B Hulbert.
The order Diptera is a large group of insects that includes sand flies, mosquitoes, gall midges, house flies and blowflies. Common characteristics of the order include:
- One pair of wings (forewings)
- Hindwings reduced to club-like halteres
- A large and moveable head
- Compound eyes that are often very large
- Sucking, piercing and sucking or sponge-like mouthparts (all adapted for a liquid diet)
- The mesothorax (middle segment of the thorax or mid-body) is enlarged, with the prothorax and metathorax small
- Complete metamorphosis, with larvae (maggots) that are always legless, with chewing mouthparts or mouth-hooks, and that often pupate within a hardened case (puparium).
The order Diptera is further divided into two suborders:
Suborder Nematocera (crane flies, moth flies, midges, sand flies, mosquitoes, gall midges, fungus gnats)
This group is generally distinguished by having:
- A slender body with long legs and relatively long antennae with many segments of similar shape and size.
- Larvae with distinct heads that live in wet or aquatic environments, as well as some found in plant galls.
Suborder Brachycera (march/horse flies, soldier flies, robber flies, bee flies, hover flies, fruit flies, vinegar flies, blowflies/ bluebottles, house/stable flies, flesh flies, tachinid flies, sheep ked/louse flies/wallaby flies)
This group generally has:
- A robust body with short (usually only 3 segments) antennae that are very variable in shape (arista - bristlelike structures near the tip of the antenna of certain flies - present or absent).
- Larvae with indistinct heads, often living in or on the soil, rotting vegetation or animal materials, with many that are predacious or parasitic.
Diptera Photo Gallery
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