Editing Fly (section)

{{short description|Order of insects}}
{{About|the insect|the process of flying|Flight|and|Flying (disambiguation){{!}}Flying|other uses}}
{{Redirect|Flies}}
{{Good article}}
{{Pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{Fossil range |245|0}}<small>Middle [[Triassic]] – Recent</small>
| image = Six Diptera.jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| image_caption = Diptera from different families:
[[Housefly]] (Muscidae) (top left)
<br/>''[[Haematopota pluvialis]]'' (Tabanidae) (top right)
<br/>''[[Ctenophora (fly)|Ctenophora pectinicornis]]'' (Tipulidae) (mid left)
<br/>''[[Aedes notoscriptus]]'' (Culicidae) (mid right)
<br/>''[[Milesia crabroniformis]]'' (Syrphidae) (bottom left)
<br/>''[[Holcocephala fusca]]'' (Asilidae) (bottom right)
| display_parents = 2
| taxon = Diptera
| authority = [[Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| subdivision_ranks = Suborders
| subdivision = [[Nematocera]] ([[paraphyletic]]) (inc [[Eudiptera]])<br/>[[Brachycera]]
}}
[[File:Anthomyiidae (female) (10144905255).jpg|thumb|266px|An [[Anthomyiidae]] species showing characteristic dipteran features: large [[eye]]s, small [[antenna (biology)|antennae]], [[Morphology of Diptera|sucking mouthparts]], [[Diptera wing|single pair of flying wing]]s, hindwings reduced to clublike [[halteres]]]]

'''Flies''' are [[insect]]s of the [[Order (biology)|order]] '''Diptera''', the name being derived from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced mechanosensory organs known as [[halteres]], which act as high-speed sensors of rotational movement and allow dipterans to perform advanced aerobatics. Diptera is a large order containing more than 150,000 [[species]] including [[horse-flies]],{{efn |Some authors draw a distinction in writing the common names of insects. True flies are in their view best written as two words, such as [[crane fly]], [[robber fly]], [[bee fly]], [[moth fly]], and fruit fly. In contrast, common names of non-dipteran insects that have "fly" in their names are written as one word, e.g. butterfly, stonefly, dragonfly, scorpionfly, sawfly, caddisfly, whitefly.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bugguide.net/node/view/55 |title=Order Diptera: Flies |website=BugGuide |publisher=[[Iowa State University]] |access-date=26 May 2016}}</ref> In practice, however, this is a comparatively new convention; especially in older books, names like "saw fly" and "caddis fly", or hyphenated forms such as [[house-fly]] and dragon-fly are widely used.<ref name="Comstock 1949">{{cite book |last=Comstock |first=John Henry |author-link=John Henry Comstock |title=An Introduction to Entomology |publisher=Comstock Publishing |date=1949 |page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontoen1949coms/page/773 773] |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoen1949coms}}</ref> Exceptions to this rule occur, such as the [[hoverfly]], which is a true fly, and the [[Lytta vesicatoria|Spanish fly]], a type of [[blister beetle]].}} [[crane flies]], [[hoverflies]], [[mosquito]]es and others.

Flies have a mobile head, with a pair of large [[compound eye]]s, and mouthparts designed for piercing and sucking (mosquitoes, black flies and robber flies), or for lapping and sucking in the other groups. Their wing arrangement gives them great manoeuvrability in flight, and claws and pads on their feet enable them to cling to smooth surfaces. Flies undergo complete [[metamorphosis]]; the eggs are often laid on the larval food-source and the larvae, which lack true limbs, develop in a protected environment, often inside their food source. Other species are [[ovoviviparous]], opportunistically depositing hatched or hatching larvae instead of eggs on [[carrion]], dung, decaying material, or open wounds of mammals. The pupa is a tough capsule from which the adult emerges when ready to do so; flies mostly have short lives as adults.

Diptera is one of the major insect orders and of considerable [[ecological]] and human importance. Flies are major pollinators, second only to the bees and their [[Hymenoptera]]n relatives. Flies may have been among the evolutionarily earliest pollinators responsible for early plant [[pollination]]. [[Drosophila|Fruit flies]] are used as [[model organism]]s in research, but less benignly, [[mosquito]]es are [[Disease vector|vectors]] for [[malaria]], [[dengue]], [[West Nile fever]], [[yellow fever]], [[encephalitis]], and other [[infectious diseases]]; and [[houseflies]], commensal with humans all over the world, spread [[foodborne illness]]es. Flies can be annoyances especially in some parts of the world where they can occur in large numbers, buzzing and settling on the skin or eyes to bite or seek fluids. Larger flies such as [[tsetse flies]] and [[screwworms]] cause significant economic harm to cattle. Blowfly larvae, known as [[Calliphoridae|gentles]], and other dipteran larvae, known more generally as [[maggot]]s, are used as [[fishing bait]], as food for carnivorous animals, and in medicine in [[debridement]], [[Maggot therapy|to clean wounds]].