Pyrgotidae

Taxobox
name = Pyrgotidae
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
subphylum = Hexapoda
classis = Insecta
subclassis = Pterygota
infraclassis = Neoptera
superordo = Endopterygota|
ordo = Diptera
subordo = Brachycera
infraordo = Muscomorpha
zoosectio = Schizophora
zoosubsectio = Acalyptratae
superfamilia = Tephritoidea
familia = Pyrgotidae
familia_authority = Schiner, 1868
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = ~ 60 Genera

Pyrgotidae is an unusual family of flies (Diptera), one of only two families of Diptera that lack ocelli. Most species are "picture-winged", as is typical among Tephritoidea, but, unlike other tephritoids they are endoparasitoids; the females pursue scarab beetles in flight, laying an egg on the beetle's back under the elytra where the beetle cannot reach it. The egg hatches and the fly larva enters the body cavity of the beetle, feeding and eventually killing the host before pupating. In the United States, some species of "Pyrgota" and "Sphecomyiella" can be quite common in areas where their host beetles (typically the genus "Phyllophaga", or "June beetles") are abundant. Like their host beetles, these flies are primarily nocturnal, and are often attracted to artificial lights.