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These are the most evolutionarily advanced flies with mostly maggot like larva, they are generally short and stocky and covered in short hairs.

Coffin-Flies (Phoridae)

These are remarkable ugly little flies (between 0.5mm and 6mm long) renowned for the fact that some species of them i.e. Conicera tibialis, can live for a year or more and produce numerous generations inside fully interred coffins, they feed on the dead bodies within. Harold Oldroyd mentions a reliable report in his book "The Ecology of Flies" of a European in Burma passing larva, pupa and adults of an unidentified Phorid suggesting that he had a colony living in his alimentary canal.

Within the family Phoridae is the tribe Termitoxeniinae which live in Termite nests and are amazing in how short their larval life is. The first stage instars moult immediately after hatching, the second stage does not eat and moults shortly after this and the third stage has been completely suppressed, thus the whole larval life lasts less than one hour and in some species only a few minutes. For more information on Coffin Flies see the Phorid Web Page

Hover-Flies(Syrphidae)
species, about 300 in the UK.

Hover-flies are some of the most attractive and noticeable flies around, they are also as their name implies incredibly good at flying and hovering. Many Hover-flies are clever mimics of Bees and Wasps (Hymenoptera) though they themselves cannot bite or sting. Volucella bombylans which exists in two forms, a yellow tailed form which looks like Bombus terrestris and a red tailed form which looks like Bombus lapidarius is a fine example. As larva, Hover-flies feed on a great variety of substances, from cow dung (Rhingia campestris), muddy puddles and ditches ( Eristalis tenax the Drone Fly), to living plant material (Merodon equestris the Bulb Fly) and living aphids (Episyrphus balteatus the Marmalade Hover-fly and Syrphus ribesii a common black and yellow wasp mimic). In fact so many Hover-fly larva eat aphids that, like the lady-beetles they are well known as a gardeners friend. Not only are Hover-flies useful because they eat aphids but they are also the second most important group of insect pollinators, after the Bees and Wasps. More Hoverfly Images

Dung-Flies (Scatophagidae, Sepsidae, Borboridae)

Lots. Their are a large number flies which are commonly associated with dung, in the north temperate areas (that's us in England as well as most of Europe and a fair portion of North America) this means mostly cow, horse, pig and sheep dung. The Sepsidae and Borboridae feed on the dung as both larvae and adults and various species from both families will make up most of the small black flies which fly up if you disturb a fresh cow pat. The Scatophagidae are the Dung-flies (i.e. the yellow and grey hairy flies you can find all over grassy fields). The Common Yellow Dung Fly Scathophaga stercoraria is a typical example of this family and though their larva feed on the dung the adults are predatory and feed on other flies which have come to the dung to feed.

Fruit-flies (Drosophilidae)

Lots.

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