Vermileonidae
Sign in to saveThe Brachyceran family Vermileonidae (the sole family in the infraorder Vermileonomorpha) is a small family of uncertain affinities and unusual biology. It includes fewer than 80 described species, most of them rare and with restricted distribution, in 11 genera. Historically the vermileonids had been regarded as belonging to the family Rhagionidae, possibly in a subfamily Vermileoninae. Their biology and morphology are so markedly distinct from the main Rhagionidae sensu stricto however, that the placement as a separate family has been widely accepted. They are called wormlions, in analogy to
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderDiptera
- FamilyVermileonidae
The Brachyceran family Vermileonidae (the sole family in the infraorder Vermileonomorpha) is a small family of uncertain affinities and unusual biology. It includes fewer than 80 described species, most of them rare and with restricted distribution, in 10 genera. Historically the vermileonids had been regarded as belonging to the family Rhagionidae,[12] possibly in a subfamily Vermileoninae. Their biology and morphology are so markedly distinct from the main Rhagionidae sensu stricto however, that the placement as a separate family has been widely accepted.[13] Adult The adults are slender, fragile, long-legged flies, vaguely reminiscent of small crane flies. The adults generally visit flowers for nectar, but adults of some species may not feed at all. The mouthparts of the adult are hypognathous, used mainly for extracting nectar from flowers, long, and straight. This might have something to do with the common name "snipe-fly" for the family Rhagionidae, but it would be misleading to use that name for Vermileonidae now, as they are no longer included in the Rhagionidae, which still are called snipe-flies. Most vermileonid species are found in the drier regions of the western parts
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 79
- With media
- 1
- Family
- Vermileonidae
- Collections
- USNM, LACM, INHS
- Recorded in
- United States, Guatemala, South Africa, New Caledonia, Nicaragua
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Tabanomorpha
- Image
- Lampromyia sp..jpg
Show 6 more facts
- Commons category
- Vermileonidae
- taxon name
- Vermileonidae
- taxon rank
- family
- topic's main category
- Category:Vermileonidae
- taxon common name
- アナアブ科
- diel cycle
- diurnality
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Adult
- Larvae
- Classification
- Species lists
- References
- External links
The Brachyceran family Vermileonidae (the sole family in the infraorder Vermileonomorpha) is a small family of uncertain affinities and unusual biology. It includes fewer than 80 described species, most of them rare and with restricted distribution, in 11 genera. Historically the vermileonids had been regarded as belonging to the family Rhagionidae, possibly in a subfamily Vermileoninae. Their biology and morphology are so markedly distinct from the main Rhagionidae sensu stricto however, that the placement as a separate family has been widely accepted. They are called wormlions, in analogy to antlions, as their worm-like larvae make pits in the sand to trap prey.
==Adult== The adults are slender, fragile, long-legged flies, vaguely reminiscent of small crane flies. The adults generally visit flowers for nectar, but adults of some species may not feed at all. The mouthparts of the adult are hypognathous, used mainly for extracting nectar from flowers, long, and straight. This might have something to do with the common name "snipe-fly" for the family Rhagionidae, but it would be misleading to use that name for Vermileonidae now, as they are no longer included in the Rhagionidae, which still are called snipe-flies.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Vermileonidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.