• Main Authors: Carlos José, Einicker Lamas, Silvio Shigueo Nihei
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.548.5172; http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbent/v51n3/v51n3a03.pdf

The Bombyliidae are one of the largest families of Diptera Brachycera with almost 4600 known species (Evenhuis & Greathead 2003), distributed over all the biogeographic regions of the globe (except for Antarctica and many oceanic islands) (Evenhuis & Greathead 1999). There are many poorly known taxa, especially in less studied areas such as South America and southern Asia. The bee flies are most frequently encountered in arid areas and constitute a high percentage of the fly diversity in the more desert regions of the globe (Evenhuis & Greathead 1999). Adults are commonly seen resting on trails or rocks sunning themselves, or feeding on a variety of flowering plants as they are nectar (males) and obligate nectar and pollen (females) feeders. This feeding behaviour has made them the major pollinators of many flowering plants, especially those occurring in desert regions (Evenhuis & Greathead 1999). Bombyliidae is a monophyletic family of flies supported Biogeographic analysis of Crocidiinae (Diptera, Bombyliidae): finding congruence among morphological, molecular, fossil and paleogeographical data