Diptera Resources

This page is a collection of resources for those wanting to explore the character differences between Diptera taxa. Most of the resources linked below will give useful information on morphology/terminology, including important characters such as wing venation and chaetotaxy (setae/setulae patterns) — a short introduction is given on separate pages for the latter for dorsocentral and fronto-orbital setae.

CSIRO Interactive Keys

CSIRO provides interactive keys to the major Diptera groups, and their respective families (latter restricted to Australian families). The link shows all the old What Bug Is That interactive insect keys. Note that the taxonomy does not reflect any recent changes, and links to descriptions are not active:

CSIRO Anatomical Atlases

CSIRO also provides excellent interactive anatomical atlases (by David Yeates and Anne Hastings):

FlyGuide

The Flyguide site provides pictorial keys to the major Diptera groups, and pictorial summaries of the families (by Zachary and Even Dankowicz):

Manuals of Afrotropical Diptera

The Manual of Afrotropical Volume 1 provides pictorial keys to major Diptera groups and families occuring in that region. That volume also is valuable for morphology and current terminology. The other volumes are also great for exploring family and genera characters:

Flies [Insecta: Diptera]

This site is great for those wanting to gain a deeper understanding of fly morphology and anatomy (by Giancarlo Dessì):
https://www.giand.it/diptera/intro/?lang=en

Insects of Australia and New Zealand (Tillyard 1926)

Tillyard’s watershed book on Australian and NZ insects is still a wonderful reference. The Diptera section provides a great summary on taxonomy and anatomy. For those who read plenty of old Diptera literature, the chapter provides important terminology of the day including a comparative table of the old Diptera wing venation nomenclature systems used up to that time (p.338):
https://archive.org/details/insectsofaustral0000rjti/page/351/mode/1up