Details of the distribution of genera and species by biogeographic realm are included in the World Catalogue of the family Lonchaeidae For terms see Morphology of Diptera.

The Lonchaeids are small flies with a black or blackish-blue body, which is often metallic, glossy, and with hyaline (lacking dark spots) wings.

Adult flies are found on trunks of trees, logs, cut wood, leaves of shrubs and in grasslands.

The polyphagous and oligophagous species of the family Tephritidae (also called fruit flies) and Lonchaeidae are one of the main pests of horticulture in the Neotropical region.

Several species in the genus Earomyia are pests of fir and spruce trees, the larvae larvar feeding on the seeds within the cones.

The black fig-fly Silba adipata McAlpine is a pest of figs in the Mediterranean area but has also spread to South Africa, Mexico and California.

The common European species Lonchaea chorea is synanthropic breeding in a wide range of decaying organic material.