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Hi


I wonder how many fly families are there over world? Here in diptera, so far there are 70 families...

I know, for example, so far there are 111 spider families. You can confirm here:
http://research.a...NTRO3.html

http://research.a...OUNTS.html

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A quick count of Geller-Grimms list (http://www.geller-grimm.de/famil.htm) gives
Nematocera: 40 familes
Brachycera 'Orthorrhapha': 30 families
Brachycera 'Cyclorrhapha': 103 families
Total: 173

Counted by hand so the number is probably off by a few. And some family divisions are not universally accepted. Since families are a 100% artificial classification scheme there will probably never be a official number of families.

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As Kahis says there is no universal agreement . Ranking is the problem. The family (for Linnaeus the Genus), though, is the most readily recognized taxon (see Glossary for this term) in Diptera.

Also see Glossary info for the family (See top left menu Then>F > then family "The two suborders of Diptera are divided thus: the Nematocera are divided into 77 families of which 35 are extinct ( fossil only ) and the Brachycera are divided into 141 families of which 8 are extinct."

For a list see
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Families_of_Diptera At the bottom is an old but still very useful download Family Group Names in Diptera and Bibliography by Sabrosky
There is also the Classification link (top left again) and it's explanatory note, but not for World species.

Cheers Robert

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Agree totally! Of course, the number will be always different. New classifications, new specimens, new reclassifications, corrections, etc etc will give us different numbers and never a fix one. The only natural taxon is perhaps specie. :)
It is just to have an idea of familes known by approximity. ;)

But for spiders, there is more consense than for dipters. :)

Thank you!