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Anisopodidae
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Anisopodidae

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The Anisopodidae are a small cosmopolitan family of gnat-like flies known as wood gnats or window-gnats, with 154 described extant species in 15 genera, and several described fossil taxa. Some species are saprophagous or fungivorous. They are mostly small to medium-sized flies, except the genera Olbiogaster and Lobogaster, which are large with spatulated abdomens. Their phylogenetic placement is controversial. They have been proposed to be the sister group to the higher flies, the Brachycera. Some authors consider this group to be four distinct families – Anisopodidae, Mycetobiidae, Olbiogastr

Species

FAMILY

  1. KingdomAnimalia
  2. PhylumArthropoda
  3. ClassInsecta
  4. OrderDiptera
  5. FamilyAnisopodidae
Observations recorded59,773

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records
904
With media
15
Family
Anisopodidae
Collections
MHNCA, UAM, NHMUK, USNM, UOMNH, PSUC
Recorded in
Mexico, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada

~3 min read

Encyclopedic overview

5 sections
Contents
  • Description
  • Identification
  • References
  • Species lists
  • External links

The Anisopodidae are a small cosmopolitan family of gnat-like flies known as wood gnats or window-gnats, with 154 described extant species in 15 genera, and several described fossil taxa. Some species are saprophagous or fungivorous. They are mostly small to medium-sized flies, except the genera Olbiogaster and Lobogaster, which are large with spatulated abdomens. Their phylogenetic placement is controversial. They have been proposed to be the sister group to the higher flies, the Brachycera. Some authors consider this group to be four distinct families – Anisopodidae, Mycetobiidae, Olbiogastridae, and Valeseguyidae.

thumb|left|Sylvicola wing veins thumb|left|Mycetobia wing veins

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Anisopodidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)