Acroceridae
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The Acroceridae are a small family of flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known.
Pterodontia sp. fly
Acroceridae plate from Johann Wilhelm Meigen's Europäischen Zweiflügeligen
Eulonchus sapphirinus feeding on Clintonia uniflora
Psilodera fasciata, showing the proboscis below the body, holoptic eyes, texture of wings, and bee mimicry
Planidium
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A planidium is a specialized form of insect larva seen in the first-instar of a few families of insects that have parasitoidal ways of life. They are usually flattened, highly sclerotized, and quite m
Acroceridae
…and Nemestrinidae, members of the family undergo hypermetamorphosis: the adults do not seek out their hosts; instead, the first-instar larva is a planidium. Females lay large number of eggs, up to 5,000, and after hatching, the planidia seek out spiders. They do not resemble the triungulin of most beetles…
Planidia and larva of a parasitoid wasp of the Perilampidae family.
Triungulin, later larval, and other instars of a Meloid beetle.
Planidia of a Meloid beetle in opportunistic phoresy on a male solitary bee (Andrena carlini), awaiting contact with a female, whose nest they then could invade.