Rhagionidae or snipe flies are a small family of flies. They get their name from the similarity of their often prominent proboscis that looks like the beak of a snipe.

Description

Rhagionidae are medium-sized to large flies with slender bodies and stilt-like legs. The mouthparts are adapted for piercing and many species are haematophagous as adults, while others are predatory on other insects. They are typically brown and yellow flies, and lack bristles. The larvae are also predatory and are mostly terrestrial, although some are aquatic. Snipe flies in the genus Rhagio are sometimes called "down-looker" flies after their habit of perching head-downward on tree trunks.

Classification

The family is contained in Brachycera infraorder Tabanomorpha, and several of its constituent groups have been recently elevated to family rank. Atherix (and related genera) now comprise the Athericidae, Vermileo (and related genera) now comprise the Vermileonidae, and the genera Austroleptis and Bolbomyia are each now the sole members of their own families (Austroleptidae and Bolbomyiidae).

[Rhagio mystaceus

"down-looker fly" | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Rhagio///mystaceus.jpg]

[Rhagio scolopaceus

exhibiting its "down-looker" behaviour | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Snipe///fly///in///wait.jpg]

List of subfamilies and genera

Arthrocerinae Williston, 1886 Chrysopilinae Bezzi, 1903 Rhagioninae Latreille, 1802 Spaniinae Frey, 1954 Incertae sedis