To investigate the monophyly and phylogenetic relationships of the Calliphoridae (blowflies), 23 terminal monophyletic taxa within the Oestroidea and two outgroup taxa (Muscidae and Anthomyiidae) were scored for 45 adult and larval characters and subjected to analyses using parsimony. Search for trees of maximum total fit (using Pee-Wee) gave nine different trees for the possible values of the concavity constant, whereas search for minimum length trees under equal weights (using NONA and PAUP) gave two, different, trees. The preferred trees are those obtained from the maximum-fit searches since they are derived from a method that lowers the weight of characters showing within-terminal as well as within-tree homoplasy. The family Calliphoridae in various commonly used senses (excluding Oestridae s.lat.; including the Rhiniinae; excluding or including the Rhinoporidae; excluding or including Mystacinobia) does not appear to be a monophyletic group. It appears as such only in trees having a much lower total fit than the optimal trees (maximum fit approach) or only in a very small fraction of the numerous trees five or nine steps longer than the minimum length trees. The assemblage (Rhiniinae+Toxotarsinae+Chrysomyinae), sometimes assumed to be a natural taxon on account of common possession of a row of setae on the upper surface of the stem-vein, should likewise be rejected. A clade (Ameniini+Euphumosia+Phumosiinae+Mesembrinellinae+ Parameniini+Catapicephala) is possibly Gondwanian. A clade (Toxotarsinae+Chrysomyinae+Calliphorinae+ Luciliinae+Melanomyinae) contains all the sarcosaprophagous "blowflies". The group (Tachinidae+ Sarcophagidae) is possibly the monophyletic sister group of the Rhiniinae. Mystacinobia emerges from the analyses as the sister group of all other Oestroidea, and the family Axiniidae as the sister group of all the other non-mystacinobiine oestroids. Although Mystacinobia is a guano-feeder in all stages, the biology of the other basal oestroid taxa indicates that a reproductive association with living or dead invertebrates is the primitive oestroid pattern. Fossils having a bearing upon the estimation of the age of various oestroid clades are discussed. © 1997 The Willi Hennig Society INTRODUCTIONThe Calliphoridae (blowflies) are a rather heterogenous family of calyptrate flies encompassing about 1,000 species world-wide. Their larval habits are diverse and, in many parts of the world, they are 1 Various results from this paper were presented at the Nordic Phylogenetic Systematics Network Meetings in Stockholm, Sweden, September 1993, and in Bergen, Norway, August 1996; at the Third International Congress on Dipterology in Guelph, Canada, August 1994; and at the Symposium 'Higher-level Phylogeny of Diptera: Morphological and Molecular Evidence' at the XX International Congress of Entomology, Florence, Italy, August 1996. 28 RognesCopyright © 1997 by The Willi Hennig Society All rights of reproduction in any form reserved common and conspicuous insects which pose a permanent threat to the well-b...

Calyptrate flies include about 22,000 extant species currently classified into Hippoboscoidea (tsetse, louse, and bat flies), the muscoid grade (house flies and relatives) and the Oestroidea (blow flies, bot flies, flesh flies, and relatives). Calyptrates are abundant in nearly all terrestrial ecosystems, often playing key roles as decomposers, parasites, parasitoids, vectors of pathogens, and pollinators. For oestroids, the most diverse group within calyptrates, definitive fossils have been lacking. The first unambiguous fossil of Oestroidea is described based on a specimen discovered in amber from the Dominican Republic. The specimen was identified through digital dissection by CT scans, which provided morphological data for a cladistic analysis of its phylogenetic position among extant oestroids. The few known calyptrate fossils were used as calibration points for a molecular phylogeny (16S, 28S, CAD) to estimate the timing of major diversification events among the Oestroidea. Results indicate that: (a) the fossil belongs to the family Mesembrinellidae, and it is identified and described as Mesembrinella caenozoica sp. nov.; (b) the mesembrinellids form a sister clade to the Australian endemic Ulurumyia macalpinei (Ulurumyiidae) (McAlpine's fly), which in turn is sister to all remaining oestroids; (c) the most recent common ancestor of extant Calyptratae lived just before the K-Pg boundary (ca. 70 mya); and (d) the radiation of oestroids began in the Eocene (ca. 50 mya), with the origin of the family Mesembrinellidae dated at ca. 40 mya. These results provide new insight into the timing and rate of oestroid diversification and highlight the rapid radiation of some of the most diverse and ecologically important families of flies. ZooBank accession number-urn:lsid:zoobank

Abstract. A rudis species‐group is defined within Pollenia Robineau‐Desvoidy, and new characters found useful in the taxonomy of this genus are presented. P.rudis (Fabricius), P.angustigena Wainwright, stat.rev. and P.pseudorudis Rognes are redescribed. P.hungarica sp.n., P.longitheca sp.n. and P.luteovillosa sp.n. are described as new to science. A key is provided, and the terminalia of both sexes are illustrated for all the species. Some features of the puparia are figured for the species where these are known. A neotype is designated for Musca rudis, and a lectotype for P.angustigena. P.angustigena, P.pseudorudis and P.rudis are Holarctic species, and the latter two have also been found in New Zealand. The remaining species are confined to the western Palaearctic. P.hungarica is known from central Europe, including southern parts of Scandinavia, P.longitheca from the eastern Mediterranean, and P.luteovillosa from Algeria and Morocco in North Africa. In the larval stages P. rudis group members are parasites of or predators on earthworms. The species have several generations each year, and normally overwinter as adults. Eisenia rosea (Savigny) serves as a host for P.hungarica, P.pseudorudis and P.rudis according to the reared material available. A previous detailed account of the immature stages and life‐cycle of lsquo;rudis’ from North America is tentatively assigned topseudorudis. Keilin's (1909,1915) often cited accounts of the immature stages and life‐cycle of a species called ‘rudis’ are rejected as a source of information for any member of the rudis group.

Within Pollenia Robineau-Desvoidy a venturii species-group is defined and revised. It consists of a single species P. venturii Zumpt. P. solitaria Grunin is proposed as a junior synonym. It is characterized by unique features in the male aedeagus and the lateral sacs of the internal female reproductive organs. Male and female terminalia are illustrated, the latter for the first time. A preliminary cladistic analysis of all known Palaearctic species of Pollenia (except P. japonica Kano & Shinonaga) suggests that the sister-group of P. venturii is a clade consisting of the viatica + vagabunda + amentaria + haeretica species-groups. A sclerotized internal wall of the lateral sacs in the internal reproductive system of female Pollenia appears to be a parallelism developed independently in the venturii, rudis, most members of the tenuiforceps and some members of the semicinerea groups, rather than an underlying synapomorphy. P. venturii is known from France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Russia. A key is provided to species-groups in Pollenia.

A phylogenetic analysis of selected oestroid taxa based on 66 morphological traits and sequences from three nuclear protein‐coding genes (CAD, MAC, MCS) resolved the composition and phylogenetic position of the former subfamily Polleniinae of the Calliphoridae – here resurrected at family rank as Polleniidae Brauer & Bergenstamm, 1889 stat. rev. Six species are transferred from the family Rhinophoridae to the Polleniidae: the Palaearctic genus Alvamaja Rognes, along with its single species Alvamaja chlorometallica Rognes, and five Afrotropical species comprising the carinata‐group formerly in the genus Phyto Robineau‐Desvoidy but here assigned to genus Morinia Robineau‐Desvoidy, i.e. M. carinata (Pape, 1987) comb.n., M. lactineala (Pape, 1997) comb.n., M. longirostris (Crosskey, 1977) comb.n., M. royi (Pape, 1997) comb.n. and M. stuckenbergi (Crosskey, 1977) comb.n. The Polleniidae are monophyletic and, in agreement with most recent phylogenetic reconstructions, sister to the Tachinidae. The female of A. chlorometallica and a new species of Morinia of the carinata‐group (Morinia tsitsikamma sp.n. from South Africa) are described. This published work has been registered in ZooBank, http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:25B0C220-DEE4-4B0C-88EA-35FDE298EBC5.