Sciaroidea

As nematoceran flies, sciaroid adults generally have long segmented antennae, while their larvae have a well-developed head and mouthparts.{{Cite web |title=Suborder Nematocera - Flies (Order: Diptera) - Amateur Entomologists' Society (AES) |url=https://www.amentsoc.org/insects/fact-files/orders/diptera-nematocera.html |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=www.amentsoc.org}}

Aside from this, sciaroids vary in appearance. For example, Sciaridae adults have each eye extended dorsally to form an "eye bridge", a feature not found in related families.{{Cite web |title=Diptera {{!}} What Bug Is That? |url=https://anic.csiro.au/insectfamilies/biota_details.aspx?OrderID=26547&BiotaID=46275&PageID=families |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=anic.csiro.au}} Cecidomyiidae adults have a distinctive reduced wing venation, while their larvae are atypical for nematoceran larvae in having a very small head capsule.{{Cite web |title=Diptera {{!}} What Bug Is That? |url=https://anic.csiro.au/insectfamilies/biota_details.aspx?OrderID=26547&BiotaID=46269&PageID=families |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=anic.csiro.au}}

Most fungus gnats (Sciaroidea excluding Cecidomyiidae) live in forests with their larvae occurring in fungi, dead wood and soil. There are some which live in wetlands such as fens.{{Cite journal |last1=Salmela |first1=Jukka |last2=Kolcsár |first2=Levente-Péter |date=2017-06-03 |title=New and poorly known Palaearctic fungus gnats (Diptera, Sciaroidea) |url=https://bdj.pensoft.net/article/11760/ |journal=Biodiversity Data Journal |language=en |volume=5 |issue=5 |pages=e11760 |doi=10.3897/BDJ.5.e11760 |pmid=28325987 |pmc=5345105 |issn=1314-2828|doi-access=free }} Several genera of Sciaridae and Mycetophilidae may reach high abundances in damp buildings with wet organic matter.{{Citation |last=Gibb |first=Timothy |title=Pest Insects |date=2015 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780124046238000053 |work=Contemporary Insect Diagnostics |pages=153–245 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-404623-8.00005-3 |isbn=978-0-12-404623-8 |access-date=2022-10-20}}

Some species of Sciaridae and Cecidomyiidae are among the rare Diptera that spend their entire lives in soil. These are wingless as adults.{{Citation |last=Frouz |first=Jan |title=Use of soil dwelling Diptera (Insecta, Diptera) as bioindicators: a review of ecological requirements and response to disturbance |date=1999 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780444500199500133 |work=Invertebrate Biodiversity as Bioindicators of Sustainable Landscapes |pages=167–186 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/b978-0-444-50019-9.50013-3 |isbn=978-0-444-50019-9 |access-date=2022-10-20}}

Sciaroid larvae typically feed on fungi but there are some which form plant galls (many Cecidomyiidae) or prey on other invertebrates (Keroplatidae).{{cite journal | last=Matile | first=Lo& | title=15. Phylogeny and evolution of the larval diet in the Sciaroidea (Diptera, Bibionomorpha) since the Mesozoic | journal=Mémoires du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle | publisher=Éd. du Muséum | volume=173 | date=1997 | pages=273–303 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/288249 | access-date=2024-06-06}}

A 2016 molecular phylogenetic analysis confirmed that Sciaroidea is a monophyletic group and should include both Cecidomyiidae and Ditomyiidae.{{Cite journal |last1=Ševčík |first1=Jan |last2=Kaspřák |first2=David |last3=Mantič |first3=Michal |last4=Fitzgerald |first4=Scott |last5=Ševčíková |first5=Tereza |last6=Tóthová |first6=Andrea |last7=Jaschhof |first7=Mathias |date=2016-10-18 |title=Molecular phylogeny of the megadiverse insect infraorder Bibionomorpha sensu lato (Diptera) |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=4 |pages=e2563 |doi=10.7717/peerj.2563 |issn=2167-8359 |pmc=5075709 |pmid=27781163 |doi-access=free }}

These 15 families belong to the superfamily Sciaroidea:{{Cite web|access-date=2019-06-06|title=Fungus Gnats Online|date=2019|last1=Greenwalt |first1=D.|last2=Kjærandsen |first2=J.|url=http://sciaroidea.info/taxonomy/40255}}

• Bolitophilidae {{small|Meigen, 1818}}
• Cecidomyiidae {{small|Newman, 1835}} – gall midges and wood midges, sometimes excluded from Sciaroidea
• Diadocidiidae {{small|Winnertz, 1863}}
• Ditomyiidae {{small|Kylin, 1919}}
• Keroplatidae {{small|Rondani}} (incl. Lygistorrhinidae {{small|Edwards, 1925}}) – long-beaked & predatory fungus gnats
• Mycetophilidae {{small|Newman, 1834}}
• Rangomaramidae {{small|Jaschhof and Didham, 2002}} – long-winged fungus gnats{{cite journal |last1=Jaschhof |first1=M. |last2=Didham |first2=R. K. |title=Rangomaramidae fam. nov. from New Zealand and implications for the phylogeny of the Sciaroidea (Diptera: Bibionomorpha) |journal=Studia Dipterologica Supplement |date=2002 |volume=11 |pages=1–60}}
• Sciaridae {{small|Billberg, 1820}} – dark-winged fungus gnats
• † Antefungivoridae {{small|Rohdendorf, 1938}}
• † Archizelmiridae {{small|Rohdendorf, 1962}}
• † Eoditomyiidae
• † Mesosciophilidae
• † Paraxymyiidae {{small|Rohdendorf, 1946}}
• † Pleciofungivoridae {{small|Rohdendorf, 1946}}
• † Protopleciidae {{small|Rohdendorf, 1946}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Wikispecies-inline|Sciaroidea}}
• {{Commons category-inline|Sciaroidea}}

{{Diptera|1}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3952308}}

Sciaroidea

Category:Diptera superfamilies