Biology of the Families of Diptera (Arthropoda: Insecta): An Integrative Review

Diptera is among the most biologically diverse insect orders and includes families whose immature and adult stages occupy markedly different habitats and trophic niches. Larvae may develop in freshwater, wet soil, mosses, fungi, dead wood, living plants, feces, carrion, animal tissues, nests, bat roosts, or other arthropods, whereas adults may function as pollinators, predators, hematophages, parasitoids, saprophages, or pathogen vectors. This integrative narrative review reconstructs and expands a previously published family-level synthesis, preserving its Qeios DOI while correcting authorship presentation, language, structure, taxonomic rank, tables, and the relationship between biological information and supporting sources. Information was organized into standardized fields describing larval feeding, adult behavior, habitat, host or substrate, ecological function, applied importance, and knowledge status. The present version completes the expanded treatment from Acartophthalmidae through Xylophagidae and places each analytical table immediately after its first citation. The results reveal repeated ecological transitions among saprophagy, fungivory, phytophagy, predation, parasitism, aquatic grazing, pollination, blood feeding, and obligate ectoparasitism. They also demonstrate strong ontogenetic decoupling: larval and adult stages frequently exploit different resources and therefore provide different ecosystem services or disservices. Several families have major medical, veterinary, agricultural, conservation, or forensic importance, whereas others are known only from fragmentary observations. The reconstruction also identifies nomenclatural and rank problems inherited from the original text, including a subfamily listed as a family and biological statements assigned to inappropriate taxa. Explicit recognition of uncertainty prevents unsupported generalization and identifies priorities for natural-history research. The resulting framework provides a clearer basis for comparison across Diptera and can be updated as taxonomic and biological knowledge improves.