Larvae are endoparasitoids of either grasshoppers (Trichopsideinae) or scarab beetles (Hirmoneurinae).[1] Some are considered important in the control of grasshopper populations.[1] Adults are often observed on flowers.[1]
Distribution
The family is small but distributed worldwide, with about 300 species in 34 genera. Nemestrinidae are most diverse in the southern hemisphere, and only six species in three genera occur in the Nearctic region.[1]
Data sources: i = ITIS,[2] c = Catalogue of Life,[3] g = GBIF,[4] b = Bugguide.net[5]
Fossil history
Fossils of Nemestrinidae are known from several localities of various ages in Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Western Europe and North America, with the oldest described fossils being in the Middle-Upper Jurassic Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan and Daohugou Bed of China.[6][7][8] Undescribed remains are known from the Upper Liassic of Germany.
^Mostovski, M.B. 1998. Revision of the tangle-vein flies (Diptera, Nemestrinidae) described by B.B. Rohdendorf, and new taxa of nemestrinids from the Upper Jurassic of Kazakhstan. Paleontological Journal, 4: 47-53.[1]
^Ansorge, J., Mostovski, M.B. 2000. Redescription of Prohirmoneura jurassica Handlirsch 1906 (Diptera: Nemestrinidae) from the Lower Tithonian lithographic limestone of Eichstaett. N. Jb. Geol. Palaeont. Mh.4: 235-243.
^Wedmann, S. 2007. A nemestrinid fly (Insecta: Diptera: Nemestrinidae: cf. Hirmoneura) from the Eocene Messel pit (Germany). Journal of Paleontology81 (5): 1114-1117.[2]