Are gnats and fruit flies one in the same insect?

Question

Are gnats and fruit flies one in the same insect?

Answer 1

Nope.  Gnats are generally very small biting flies.  Fruit flies don't bite (people) and are easy to see.

I could post the taxonomy for you but it is so complex it would appearing confusing.  Heck even the Dipteran biologist get confused.  There are a known 4352 specie of fruit fly, about 360 in North America.  What's gonna make it worse is the genomes research.  More than likely Dipteran taxonomy is gonna be changed a lot.

If ya really wanna know more about all kinds of flies check out this site:

http://diptera.myspecies.info/

Answer 2

No their not Gina.

Answer 3

Common names can be a problem.  Some people refer to all small flying insects as gnats or fruit flies.  look at both.

gnats

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&k...

fruit flies

http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&k...

There are official common names for many insects, some have more than one accepted common name.  I have found it is not wise to disagree with a local person on the common name of an insect.  Especially if you are not native to that area.