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Diptera (flies)
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta >
Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa
> Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Phylum:
Arthopoda > Mandibulata >
Atelocerata > Panhexapoda >
Hexapoda
> Insecta (insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota >
Metapterygota > Neoptera > Eumetabola > Holometabola > Panorpida > Antliophora
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Musca domestica (Housefly) feeding on sweetmelon [photo
Hamish Robertson ©] |
Leptynoma sericea (Vermilionidae) on Lapeirousia corymbosa flower.[photo
Hamish Robertson ©] |
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Bee fly (Bombyliidae) feeding from Lobelia flower. [photo
Hamish Robertson ©] |
Flies are distinguished from all other insects by having one pair of wings instead of
two. Instead of a pair of hindwings they have a pair of halteres which are knob-like
processes evidently used for balance in flight. A total of 5830 fly species have been recorded from South Africa (SA Animal Checklist).
These pages on flies for Biodiversity Explorer were created some time ago when information resources about flies were sparse and relatively inaccessible. Most of the pages were not developed in detail. The publication of the Manual of Afrotropical Diptera (Kirk-Spriggs and Sinclair, 2017a, 2017b plus two further volumes to come) provides a fantastic source of information on African flies that cannot be bettered and as the volumes can be downloaded for free, it is fully accessible. So, other than some minor updating of these fly pages, no attempt is made to update the information with this new resource that is available (or becoming available) and instead you are referred to the Manual for detailed information on flies of the region.
Classification of southern African taxa
Ptychopteromorpha |
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Tanyderidae
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Ptychopteridae |
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Culicomorpha
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Culicidae (mosquitoes)
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Chaoboridae
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Dixidae
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Chironomidae (midges)
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Ceratopogonidae
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Simuliidae
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Thaumaleidae
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Blephariceromorpha
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Blephariceridae
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Bibionomorpha
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Bibionidae
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Mycetophilidae
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Cecidomyiidae
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Sciaridae
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Psychodomorpha |
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Scatopsidae
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Psychodidae (moth flies and sand flies) |
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Tipulomorpha |
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Limoniidae
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Tipulidae (crane flies)
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Anisopodidae |
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BRACHYCERA |
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Kirk-Spriggs, A.H. and Sinclair, B.J. 2017a. Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. Volume 1. Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute.
Download from afrotropicalmanual.org.
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Kirk-Spriggs, A.H. and Sinclair, B.J. 2017b. Manual of Afrotropical Diptera. Volume 2, Pretoria: South African National Biodiversity Institute. Download from afrotropicalmanual.org.
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