Overview
These small flies are often encountered on low vegetation, near swamps. The larvae generally live in rotting vegetation.
Description
Adults are slender, with well-developed bristles on the head and thorax. The wing venation is distinctive and many veins have a row of setulae on the upper surface; vein A1+CuA2 is joined distally to vein CuA1 in females only.
Distribution
Most species are native to the Northern Hemisphere.
Lonchoptera furcate
(Fallen), an introduced species, is parthenogenic in Australia and males are absent or rare. Fossils that are possibly related to this family are recorded from Lebanon in the Cretaceous.