These small gray to dark brown humpbacked flies are worldwide in distribution
but are poorly represented in the Australasian/Oceanian Regions.
The immature stages have been recorded as scavengers within egg pods of
the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål), by Greathead (1958).
Cuthbertson (1936) reared an Afrotropical species, Cyrtona albomacula Curran, from human feces in Zimbabwe.
The family has at various times been placed in the Drosophilidae, Diastatidae,
and Ephydridae (Enderlein 1914d, 1917; Hendel 1917; Duda 1924a). Following
the lead of contemporary authors (e.g., Hennig 1958, Delfinado 1969, Griffiths
1972, Wirth 1977, Wirth & Tsacas 1980), they are here given family rank.
Refs.: Delfinado (1969, rev. Oriental spp.), Wirth (1977, Oriental
cat.).
AXINOTA Wulp, 1886: cviii. Type species: Axinota pictiventris Wulp, 1886, mon.
APSINOTA Wulp, 1887b: 178 (unjust. emend. of Axinota).
THAUMASTOPHILA Hendel, 1914a: 112. Type species: Thaumastophila
hyalipennis Hendel, 1914, mon.
ANASEIOMYIA Malloch, 1930h: 328. Type species; Anaseiomyia uniformis Malloch, 1930, orig. des.
pictiventris Wulp, 1886: cviii [1887: 178 (as Apsinota)].
Indonesia (Java); Australia (Qld), Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Maluku), PNG (PNG),
Solomon Is; widesp. Oriental Reg.