The Acalyptratae or Acalyptrata are a subsection of the Schizophora, which are a section of the order Diptera, the "true flies". In various contexts the Acalyptratae also are referred to informally as the acalyptrate muscoids, or acalyptrates, as opposed to the Calyptratae. All forms of the name refer to the lack of calypters in the members of this subsection of flies. An alternative name, Acalypterae is current, though in minority usage. It was first used by Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart in 1835 for a section of his tribe Muscides; he used it to refer to all acalyptrates plus scathophagids and phorids, but excluding Conopidae.
The confusing forms of the names stem from their first usage; Acalyptratae and Acalyptrata actually are adjectival forms in Neo-Latin. They were coined in the mid 19th century in contexts such as "Muscae Calyptratae and Acalyptratae" and "Diptera Acalyptrata", and the forms stuck.[1]
The Acalyptratae are a large assemblage, exhibiting very diverse habits, with one notable and perhaps surprising exception: no known acalyptrates are obligate blood-feeders (hematophagous), though blood feeding at various stages of the life history is common throughout other Dipteran sections.
^Carl Robert Osten-Sacken (1858). Collected papers. pp. 1–.
The Acalyptratae or Acalyptrata are a subsection of the Schizophora, which are a section of the order Diptera, the "true flies". In various contexts the...
The higher-level classification of the insect order Diptera is in a constant state of flux, and over the last several decades, a vast number of names have...
Tephritidae. New Zealand. Malloch, J.R. (1931). "New Zealand Muscidae Acalyptratae. Part VIII. -- Trypetidae". Records of the Canterbury Museum. 3: 389–404...
is the distal calypter (synonym: squamula). Species of the subsection Acalyptratae are noted for lacking calypters. McAlpine, J. F. (1981). Manual of Nearctic...
Ezra Townsend (1920). "A Revision of the Nearctic Sciomyzidae (Diptera, Acalyptratae)". Transactions of the American Entomological Society. 46 (1): 27–89...
in the vernacular. The section is divided into two subsections, the Acalyptratae and Calyptratae, which are commonly referred to as acalyptrate muscoids...
Hui; Buck, Matthias (2011). "The state of Sphaeroceridae (Diptera: Acalyptratae): a world catalog update covering the years 2000–2010, with new generic...
Platystomatidae and Otitidae known to occur in America north of Mexico (Diptera, Acalyptratae)". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 54 (401–410): 401–410...
Tephritidae. New Zealand. Malloch, J.R. (1931). "New Zealand Muscidae Acalyptratae. Part VIII. -- Trypetidae". Records of the Canterbury Museum. 3: 389–404...
Carnoidea is a superfamily of Acalyptratae flies. In general, member of Carnoidea are small flies no more than a few millimetres long. Carnoidea is a poorly...
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