Brachycera
Taxonomic placing: Insecta, Holometabola, Diptera.
Common names: Fruit flies, leaf miners and others.
Geographical distribution: Cosmopolitan.
Morphology: The antennae of the Brachycera have only 3 segments and may be plumose. The maggots are usually whitish with a reduced head and caudal spiracles.
Life history: The eggs are often deposited in or on their hosts, plants or animals, and the emerging maggots are often phytophagous. They pupate within a puparium, on or off their host plants. The adults of most Brachycera are active by day.
Economic importance: This subordrr contains sevarl pest species in the families Agromyzidae, Anthomyiidae, Chloropidae, Drosophilidae, Muscidae and the Tephritidae. Members of the families Chamaemyiidae and Tachinidae are parasitic on other insects.