Culicoidea (Insecta: Diptera)

The Culicoidea is a superfamily of nematoceran flies (see crudely-modified phylogeny above, from Grimaldi & Engel, 2005). It includes one the most well-known group of organisms, the mosquitoes (Culicidae), as well as three other families: the Dixidae, the Corethrellidae and Chaoboridae. Their sister group is the Chironomidea (containing the Chironomidae, Ceratopogonidae, Simuliidae and Thaumaleidae), all together forming the Culicomorpha (Sæther, 2000); this grouping is supported by many characters, mostly from the specialised-for-filter-feeding larval mouthparts, but also from sperm morphology (they share 15 protofilaments in the accessory tubules, as opposed to 13 in other flies) and male genitals (they have no sclerotised aedeagus [penis] as in other flies).

Flies: Morphology

Flies may be my least favourite insects, but there’s no denying that they are extremely diverse and of special economic importance. This series will be similar to my beetles series, but going into more details, except where phylogeny is concerned. Systematics is, as always, under constant revision. The families I’ll be introducing in the series are all well accepted, I will just not be ordering them into any phylogenetic system.