---

Good suggestion - it would be nice to make Diptera more accessible to beginners.

For some families it might be possible to list some features that are visible from photos but these would often be (as we say) 'rules of thumb' ... they apply generally but not always. In the text books most groups are characterised by features that might not appear in photos at all because they are hidden or very small indeed.

Perhaps whoever does it could split the rules into 'text-book rules' and then 'rules of thumb'? :)