cyclorrhaphan

plural cyclorrhaphans

1. Any fly of the taxon Cyclorrhapha

   The apparent oldest cyclorrhaphan, Opetiala shatalkani, is a compression fossil wing from the Purbeck of England (ca. 140 MYO), and it precedes other early cyclorrhaphans by about 10 MY.

   2005, David Grimaldi, Evolution of the Insects, page 533

   2 more examples

   Because circumversion originated in the Platypezidae and persists through the highest forms of the Schizophora, because it is featured in the lowest and among the highest cyclorrhaphans, we are convinced that the suborder Cyclorrhapha is properly considered to be a monophyletic group.

   1968, The Wasmann Journal of Biology, volume 26, page 103

   Unlike the proboscides of Lower brachyceran lineages, which are continuous with the head capsule and tend to dangle (Matsuda 1965), the proboscides of most cyclorrhaphan species are suspended by a membranous region and divided into three functional parts: the basiproboscis (rostrum), medioproboscis (haustellum), and distiproboscis (labellum), each of which is defined by internal muscles but also shares muscles with the other regions (Graham-Smith 1930; Lall and Davies 1971).

   2012, Brian Wiegmann, The Evolutionary Biology of Flies, page 225

   Synonyms: circular-seamed fly