Two-winged insects or Diptera comprise 12% of the planetary biota, and the Systema Dipterorum is an authoritative source for their names. Systema Dipterorum contains all names proposed for extant and extinct Diptera and it is a source for information about those names. The two main components of Systema Dipterorum are the Nomenclator and the References database.

By providing authoritative information about dipteran names, Systema Dipterorum is the necessary framework for organizing, interpreting and integrating current and future data, information and knowledge about two-winged insects.

Systema Dipterorum is a source of names and information about those names and the taxa to which they apply. Systema Dipterorum is a set of tools to aid users in finding information about flies. The two main components of Systema Dipterorum are the Nomenclator and the Reference database.

The Nomenclator allows users to check names, find the status (valid or invalid) and correct (valid) name for obsolete ones as well as basic information such as type, family classification and source for all names.

The Reference is provided to allow users to find printed works about flies.

Information about data sources, quality of the data, current status of the project, future work plans, team, as well as details about the format, classification, abbreviations, et cetera, can be found under Documents in the menu bar.

The Standards, Description, and Data Sources are only available in PDF Format. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader.

You may also find information about North American fly names at the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) World Wide Web site. Some 25,000 names for North American flies from the former BioSystematic Database of World Diptera were incorporated into the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) Code back in 1989. So, you can retrieve information about the status of these names by querying the Species2000 databases.

Systema Dipterorum works with ITIS and was an initial member of the Species2000 program. Systema Dipterorum is endorsed by the Council for the International Congresses of Dipterology, which is a scientific member of the International Union of Biological Sciences.