Pyrgotidae
      Pyrgotidae       Pyrgotella chagnoni    Scientific classification    Kingdom:    Animalia     Phylum:    Arthropoda     Class:    Insecta     Order:    Diptera     Suborder:    Brachycera     Infraorder:    Muscomorpha     Section:    Schizophora     Subsection:    Acalyptratae     Superfamily:    Tephritoidea     Family:    Pyrgotidae   Schiner, 1868    Genera    see text       Female of species of Pyrgotidae, showing the prominent ovipositor      Dorsal aspect of same fly; note the absence of the ocelli    The Pyrgotidae  are an unusual family of flies (Diptera), one of only two families of Cyclorrhapha that lack ocelli. Most species are "picture-winged" (i.e, have patterns of bands or spots on the wings), as is typical among the 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 ent...