The fly is scientifically notable for the physiology of its polytene chromosomes and developmentally regulated amplified puffs, first observed by Crodowaldo Pavan.

Entomologist Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann first described and classified this species in his work Diptera Exotica (1821).

In 1950, during an expedition to collect wild Drosophilidae in the shore, in São Paulo state on the southeast Brazilian coast Crodowaldo Pavan rediscovered the species and named it Rhynchosciara angelae.

Similar chromosomal structures were described in Chironomus by Balbiani, and became known as "Balbiani Rings", but the incorporation of radioactive thymidine experiments in the chromosomes of Rhynchosciara americana led to the discovery of two types of puff: a transcription-related puff, where the chromatin expands and the transcription events takes place; and an amplification-related one, where the chromatin expands and RNA transcription and DNA replication occur.

In Drosophila control elements as enhancers and replication origins were described and related to amplification phenomena, however in the Sciaridaes the puzzle is still far from solved.