Celyphidae
Did it fool you? You wouldn’t be the first to mistake this fly (Diptera) for a beetle (Coleoptera). Put the common names of these two orders together and you get the common name of this family of flies (the beetle flies) – no surprise there. The name Celyphus is from the Greek for “shell” and is the root of the family name, Celyphidae. The shiny, sculptured shell that covers the abdomen and gives species that beetle “look” is actually a gross enlargement of the scutellum, one of the main parts of the thorax. Celyphidae provide a nice example of convergent evolution between beetles and flies. Most beetles have forewings which are not used for flying but rather have evolved into hardened sheaths. Like the shell of the Celyphidae they act to cover and protect the soft-bodied abdomen within which the reproductive and digestive organs are located. Little is known about celyphid biology except that they are associated with moist or wet areas where they can be locally common. Larvae are saprophagous, consuming rotting vegetation.
Credits: Dr Robert Copeland, icipe