Editing Fly (section)

===Diversity===

[[File:Mydas sp..JPG|thumb|''[[Gauromydas heros]]'' is the largest fly in the world.]]

Flies are often abundant and are found in almost all terrestrial habitats in the world apart from Antarctica. They include many familiar insects such as house flies, blow flies, mosquitoes, gnats, black flies, midges and fruit flies. More than 150,000 have been [[Species description|formally described]] and the actual species diversity is much greater, with the flies from many parts of the world yet to be studied intensively.<ref name=Pape2009>{{cite book |last1=Pape |first1=Thomas |author2=Bickel, Daniel John |author3=Meier, Rudolf |title=Diptera Diversity: Status, Challenges and Tools |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TqAeuBCVdjQC&pg=PR13 |year=2009 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-14897-0 |page=13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Congruence and controversy: toward a higher-level phylogeny of diptera |journal=[[Annual Review of Entomology]] |volume=44 |pages=397–428 |last2=Wiegmann |first2=B. M. |date=1999 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.44.1.397 |pmid=15012378 |last1=Yeates |first1=D. K.}}</ref> The suborder Nematocera include generally small, slender insects with long antennae such as mosquitoes, gnats, midges and crane-flies, while the Brachycera includes broader, more robust flies with short antennae. Many nematoceran larvae are aquatic.<ref name=TolwebDiptera>{{cite web |url=http://tolweb.org/Diptera |title=Diptera: True flies |last1=Wiegmann |first1=Brian M. |last2=Yeates |first2=David K. |year=2007 |website=Tree of Life Web Project |access-date=27 May 2016}}</ref> There are estimated to be a total of about 19,000 species of Diptera in Europe, 22,000 in the Nearctic region, 20,000 in the Afrotropical region, 23,000 in the Oriental region and 19,000 in the Australasian region.<ref name=Pape>{{cite journal |last1=Pape |first1=Thomas |author2=Beuk, Paul |author3=Pont, Adrian Charles |author4=Shatalkin, Anatole I. |author5=Ozerov, Andrey L. |author6=Woźnica, Andrzej J. |author7=Merz, Bernhard |author8=Bystrowski, Cezary |author9=Raper, Chris |author10=Bergström, Christer |author11=Kehlmaier, Christian |author12=Clements, David K. |author13=Greathead, David |author14=Kameneva, Elena Petrovna |author15=Nartshuk, Emilia |author16=Petersen, Frederik T. |author17=Weber, Gisela |author18=Bächli, Gerhard |author19=Geller-Grimm, Fritz |author20=Van de Weyer, Guy |author21=Tschorsnig, Hans-Peter |author22=de Jong, Herman |author23=van Zuijlen, Jan-Willem |author24=Vaňhara, Jaromír |author25=Roháček, Jindřich |author26=Ziegler, Joachim |author27=Majer, József |author28=Hůrka, Karel |author29=Holston, Kevin |author30=Rognes, Knut |author31=Greve-Jensen, Lita |author32=Munari, Lorenzo |author33=de Meyer, Marc |author34=Pollet, Marc |author35=Speight, Martin C. D. |author36=Ebejer, Martin John |author37=Martinez, Michel |author38=Carles-Tolrá, Miguel |author39=Földvári, Mihály |author40=Chvála, Milan |author41=Barták, Miroslav |author42=Evenhuis, Neal L. |author43=Chandler, Peter J. |author44=Cerretti, Pierfilippo |author45=Meier, Rudolf |author46=Rozkosny, Rudolf |author47=Prescher, Sabine |author48=Gaimari, Stephen D. |author49=Zatwarnicki, Tadeusz |author50=Zeegers, Theo |author51=Dikow, Torsten |author52=Korneyev, Valery A. |author53=Richter, Vera Andreevna |author54=Michelsen, Verner |author55=Tanasijtshuk, Vitali N. |author56=Mathis, Wayne N. |author57=Hubenov, Zdravko |author58=de Jong, Yde |display-authors=5 |year=2015 |title=Fauna Europaea: Diptera – Brachycera |journal=[[Biodiversity Data Journal]] |volume=3 |issue=3 |pmc=4339814 |pages=e4187 |doi=10.3897/BDJ.3.e4187 |pmid=25733962 |doi-access=free }}</ref> While most species have restricted distributions, a few like the housefly (''[[Musca domestica]]'') are cosmopolitan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marquez |first1=J. G. |last2=Krafsur |first2=E. S. |date=2002-07-01 |title=Gene Flow Among Geographically Diverse Housefly Populations (Musca domestica L.): A Worldwide Survey of Mitochondrial Diversity |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1059059 |journal=[[Journal of Heredity]]  |volume=93 |issue=4 |pages=254–259 |doi=10.1093/jhered/93.4.254 |pmid=12407211|doi-access=free }}</ref> ''[[Gauromydas heros]]'' ([[Asiloidea]]), with a length of up to {{convert |7 |cm |in |1 |abbr=on}}, is generally considered to be the largest fly in the world,<ref>{{cite news |title=World's Biggest Fly Faces Two New Challengers |last=Owen |first=James |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151210-biggest-animals-science-insects-flies-new-species/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151213125146/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/12/151210-biggest-animals-science-insects-flies-new-species/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 December 2015 |newspaper=National Geographic |date=10 December 2015 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref> while the smallest is ''[[Euryplatea nanaknihali]]'', which at {{convert |0.4 |mm |in |3 |abbr=on}} is smaller than a grain of salt.<ref>{{cite news |title=World's Tiniest Fly May Decapitate Ants, Live in Their Heads |last=Welsh |first=Jennifer |url=http://www.livescience.com/21326-smallest-fly-decapitates-ants.html |newspaper=Livescience |date=2 July 2012 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref>

Brachycera are ecologically very diverse, with many being predatory at the larval stage and some being parasitic. Animals parasitised include [[molluscs]], [[woodlice]], [[millipede]]s, insects, [[mammal]]s,<ref name=Pape/> and [[amphibian]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Strijbosch |first=H. |year=1980 |title=Mortality in a population of ''Bufo bufo'' resulting from the fly ''Lucilia bufonivora'' |journal=Oecologia |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=285–286 |doi=10.1007/BF00346472 |pmid=28309542 |bibcode=1980Oecol..45..285S |s2cid=32817424 }}</ref> Flies are the second largest group of pollinators after the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and relatives). In wet and colder environments flies are significantly more important as pollinators. Compared to bees, they need less food as they do not need to provision their young. Many flowers that bear low nectar and those that have evolved [[Pollination trap|trap pollination]] depend on flies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ssymank |first1=Axel |last2=Kearns |first2=C. A. |last3=Pape |first3=Thomas |last4=Thompson |first4=F. Christian |date=2008-04-01 |title=Pollinating Flies (Diptera): A major contribution to plant diversity and agricultural production |journal=Biodiversity |volume=9 |issue=1–2 |pages=86–89 |doi=10.1080/14888386.2008.9712892|s2cid=39619017 }}</ref> It is thought that some of the earliest pollinators of plants may have been flies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Labandeira |first=Conrad C. |date=1998-04-03 |title=How Old Is the Flower and the Fly? |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=280 |issue=5360 |pages=57–59 |doi=10.1126/science.280.5360.57 |hdl=10088/5966 |s2cid=19305979 }}</ref>

The greatest diversity of gall forming insects are found among the flies, principally in the family Cecidomyiidae (gall midges).<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.baae.2005.07.002 |title=Adaptive radiation of gall-inducing insects |journal=Basic and Applied Ecology |volume=6 |issue=5 |pages=413–421 |year=2005 |last1=Price |first1=Peter W.|doi-access=free }}</ref> Many flies (most importantly in the family Agromyzidae) lay their eggs in the mesophyll tissue of leaves with larvae feeding between the surfaces forming blisters and mines.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2006.12.018 |pmid=17291785 |title=Phylogenetic relationships within the leaf-mining flies (Diptera: Agromyzidae) inferred from sequence data from multiple genes |journal=[[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]] |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=756–75 |year=2007 |last1=Scheffer |first1=Sonja J. |last2=Winkler |first2=Isaac S. |last3=Wiegmann |first3=Brian M.|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1259491 }}</ref> Some families are mycophagous or fungus feeding. These include the cave dwelling Mycetophilidae (fungus gnats) whose larvae are the only diptera with bioluminescence. The Sciaridae are also fungus feeders. Some plants are pollinated by fungus feeding flies that visit fungus infected male flowers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Sakai |first1=Shoko |last2=Kato |first2=Makoto |last3=Nagamasu |first3=Hidetoshi |date=2000 |title=Artocarpus (Moraceae)-Gall Midge Pollination Mutualism Mediated by a Male-Flower Parasitic Fungus |journal=[[American Journal of Botany]] |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=440–445 |doi=10.2307/2656640|hdl=10088/12159 |jstor=2656640 |pmid=10719005 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
 
The larvae of ''[[Megaselia scalaris]]'' (Phoridae) are almost omnivorous and consume such substances as paint and shoe polish.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Disney |first=R.H.L. |year=2007 |title=Natural History of the Scuttle Fly, ''Megaselia scalaris'' |journal=[[Annual Review of Entomology]] |volume=53 |pages=39–60 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.53.103106.093415 |pmid=17622197 |url=https://tede.ufrrj.br/jspui/handle/jspui/1224 }}</ref> The ''[[Exorista mella (Walker)]]'' fly are considered generalists and parasitoids of a variety of hosts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stireman |first=John O. |date=2002-09-01 |title=Learning in the Generalist Tachinid Parasitoid Exorista Mella Walker (Diptera: Tachinidae) |journal=[[Journal of Insect Behavior]] |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=689–706 |doi=10.1023/A:1020752024329 |s2cid=36686371}}</ref> The larvae of the [[Ephydridae|shore flies]] (Ephydridae) and some Chironomidae survive in extreme environments including glaciers (''[[Diamesa]]'' sp., Chironomidae<ref name="Biology of Shore Flies">{{cite journal |last1=Foote |first1=B.A. |title=Biology of Shore Flies |journal=[[Annual Review of Entomology]] |volume=40 |pages=417–442 |year=1995 |doi=10.1146/annurev.en.40.010195.002221}}</ref>), hot springs, geysers, saline pools, sulphur pools, septic tanks and even crude oil (''[[Helaeomyia petrolei]]''<ref name="Biology of Shore Flies"/>).<ref name="Pape"/> Adult [[hoverflies]] (Syrphidae) are well known for their [[mimicry]] and the larvae adopt diverse lifestyles including being [[inquiline]] [[scavenger]]s inside the nests of social insects.<ref name="Gullan320">{{cite book |last1=Gullan |first1=P.J. |last2=Cranston |first2=P.S. |title=The Insects: An Outline of Entomology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E_6-pGOLUgcC&pg=PA320 |year=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4051-4457-5 |page=320}}</ref> Some brachycerans are agricultural pests, some bite animals and humans and suck their blood, and some transmit diseases.<ref name="Pape"/>