TheNematocera (the name meaning "thread-horns") are a suborder of elongatedflies with thin, segmentedantennae and mostly aquaticlarvae. This group isparaphyletic and contains all flies except for species from suborderBrachycera[4] (the name meaning "short-horns"), which includes more commonly known species such as thehousefly or thecommon fruit fly. The equivalentclade to Nematocera is the whole Diptera, with Brachycera as a subclade. Families in Nematocera includemosquitoes,crane flies,gnats,black flies, and multiple families commonly known asmidges. The Nematocera typically have fairly long, fine, finely-jointed antennae. In many species, such as most mosquitoes, the female antennae are more or less threadlike, but the males have spectacularlyplumose antennae.
The larvae of most families of Nematocera are aquatic, either free-swimming, rock-dwelling, plant-dwelling, orluticolous. Some families however, are not aquatic; for instance theTipulidae tend to be soil-dwelling and theMycetophilidae feed on fungi such as mushrooms. Unlike most of the Brachycera, the larvae of Nematocera have distinct heads with mouthparts that may be modified for filter feeding or chewing, depending on their lifestyles.
Thepupae areorthorrhaphous which means that adults emerge from the pupa through a straight, longitudinal seam in the dorsal surface of the pupal cuticle.
The bodies andlegs of most adult Nematocera are elongated, and many species have relatively long abdomens.
Males of many species form mating swarms like faint pillars of smoke, competing for females that visit the cloud of males to find a mate.
^Schiner, I.R. (1868).Diptera. vi In [Wullerstorf-Urbair, B. von (in charge)], Reise der osterreichischen Fregatte Novara. Zool. 2(1)B. Wien: K. Gerold's Sohn. pp. 388pp., 4 pls.
Borror, D. J., DeLong, D. M., Triplehorn, C. A.(1976) Fourth edition.An introduction to the study of insects. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. New York, Chicago.ISBN0-03-088406-3
Arnett, R. H. Jr. (2000) Second edition.American insects. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Londres, New York, Washington, D. C.ISBN0-8493-0212-9
