Platypezoidea

Platypezoidea
	Pseudacteon sp. (Phoridae)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Section:	Aschiza
Superfamily:	Platypezoidea
Families
	5, see text
Synonyms
	Phoroidea

The Platypezoidea are a superfamily of true flies of the section Aschiza. Their closest living relatives are the Syrphoidea, which, for example, contain the hoverflies. Like these, the adults do not burst open their pupal cases with a ptilinum when hatching, thus the Aschiza do not have the inverted-U-shaped suture above the antennae. They are, however, muscomorphs, thus have a particular type of pupal case resembling a rounded barrel and called puparium.

Families

Five families are placed in the Platypezoidea, listed below in taxonomic sequence:

Phoridae - coffin and scuttle flies (includes Sciadoceridae)
Opetiidae - flat-footed flies
Ironomyiidae - ironic flies^[1]
Lonchopteridae - spear-winged flies, pointed-wing flies
Platypezidae - flat-footed flies

The Ironomyiidae, Lonchopteridae, and Phoridae are sometimes separated as Phoroidea. The reduced Platypezoidea thus created unites the two families of flat-footed flies.

References

^ McAlpine, D.K. (2008). "New extant species of ironic flies (Diptera: Ironomyiidae) with notes on ironomyiid morphology and relationships". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (Print). 129. New South Wales: The Linnean Society of New South Wales: 17–38.

[McAlpine-1] McAlpine, D.K. (2008). "New extant species of ironic flies (Diptera: Ironomyiidae) with notes on ironomyiid morphology and relationships". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales (Print). 129. New South Wales: The Linnean Society of New South Wales: 17–38.

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