Asiloidea

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Asiloidea
Pegesimallus sp robberfly.jpg
Robber fly (Asilidae) with beetle prey
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Phylum:
Class:
Order:
Suborder:
Infraorder:
Superfamily:
Asiloidea
Families

10

Lua error in Module:Taxonbar/candidate at line 22: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

The Asiloidea comprise a very large superfamily insects in the order Diptera, the true flies. It has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring worldwide, with many species living in dry, sandy habitat types. It includes the family Bombyliidae, the bee flies, which are parasitoids, and the Asilidae, the robber flies, which are predators of other insects. Members of the other families are mainly flower visitors as adults and predators as larvae.[1]

It is not entirely clear that this superfamily is monophyletic, that all of its families share a common ancestor. It is closely related to the Empidoidea and the Cyclorrhapha.[1][2]

File:Robber fly head.jpg
A robber fly illustrating typical Asiloidea head features

Families

The Protapioceridae, a family of extinct flies that were native to China, are also classified in the Asiloidea.[3]

References

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Asiloidea at Wikispecies

<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>