Australasian/Oceanian Diptera Catalog -- Web Version

Milichiid flies are small and inconspicuous, usually black, often dull or subshining but sometimes highly polished. Males of some species have silvery abdomens that flash brilliantly in the sun as they dance in swarms. Larvae are saprophagous or coprophagous. There are numerous rearing records from manure, compost heaps, decaying plant material, birds' nests, and carrion. Some species are easily spread in commerce and have become virtually cosmopolitan (e.g., Desmometopa m-nigrum). In the Nearctic and southern Neotropical regions some species are associated with ants. Some of these species breed in detritus deep in the nests of leafcutting ants (Atta spp.). Adults of some species are phoretic commensals on predatory insects, riding on them and sucking juices that exude from the victims. Although many species have been described from the Australasian/Oceanian Regions, little is known of their biology.

Scattered specimens of a number of genera indicate that much comprehensive revisionary work needs to be done in the area covered by this catalog and the adjacent parts of the Oriental Region. The only modern work available is the revision of the world species of Desmometopa (Sabrosky 1983).

DESMOMETOPA Loew, 1866a: 184 [1872b: 62]. Type species: Agromyza m-atrum Meigen, 1830 [= Madiza sordida Fallén, 1820], des. Hendel, 1903b: 251.
ciliata Hendel, 1919: 200. Australia (NSW); Australia (ACT, Qld, SA, WA).
flavipalpis Sabrosky, 1983: 49. Marshall Is; Belau, Indonesia (Irian Jaya), Micronesia, Vanuatu.
gressitti Sabrosky, 1983: 54. Marshall Is; Kiribati (Gilbert Is), Solomon Is, Vanuatu.
inaurata Lamb, 1914: 363. Seychelles; American Samoa, Australia (NSW, Qld, SA, Vic, WA), Fiji, French Polynesia (Marquesas Is), Hawaiian Is, Lord Howe I, Pitcairn Is, Tuvalu; widesp. Afrotrop., Neotrop. Regs.
microps Lamb, 1914: 364. Seychelles; Guam; widesp. Oriental, adjoining parts of Palearctic Regs.
m-nigrum Zetterstedt, 1848: 2743 (Agromyza). Sweden; Australia (NSW, WA); virtually cosmopol. [apparently distributed in commerce].
singaporensis Kertész, 1899b: 194. Singapore; Australia (NT), widesp. Pacific Is, E to Hawaiian Is, N to Bonin Is; widesp. Oriental Reg, (some Afrotrop. & Neotrop. records).
     palpalis de Meijere, 1914b: 251. Indonesia (Java & Sumatra).
     tristicula Hendel, 1914a: 96. Taiwan.
     m-nigrum, authors, not Zetterstedt, 1848, misid.
tarsalis Loew, 1866a: 184 [1872b: 62]. Cuba; Fiji, Hawaiian Is, Northern Marianas, PNG (Bismarck Arch), Solomon Is, Wake I; widesp. SW USA to Neotrop. Reg.
     m-nigrum, authors, not Zetterstedt, 1848, misid.
terminalis Sabrosky, 1983: 36. Belau.
varipalpis Malloch, 1927b: 7. Australia (NSW); Australia (NT, WA), Indonesia (Irian Jaya), widesp. Pacific Is to Hawaiian Is; cosmopol.

MACRURUS Lioy, 1864a: 1313. Type species: Agromyza latipes Meigen, 1830, mon. [Preocc. Schneider, 1801.]
LEPTOMETOPA Becker, 1903: 188. Type species: Leptometopa rufifrons Becker, 1903, mon.
HYPASPISTOMYIA Hendel, 1907b: 240. Type species: Hypaspistomyia coquilletti Hendel, 1907, mon.
aelleni Papp, 1978: 104. New Caledonia (New Caledonia).
beardsleyi Hardy & Delfinado, 1980: 358. Hawaiian Is; Pitcairn Is.
mallochi Sabrosky, 1989: 556 (n.n. for albipennis Malloch). Australia (NSW).
     albipennis Malloch, 1924f: 336 (Hypaspistomyia). Australia (NSW). [Preocc. Lamb, 1914.]
pacifica Papp, 1984a: 243. Fiji.
pecki Papp, 1984a: 245. Fiji.

Subfamily PHYLLOMYZINAE

Genus BORNEOMYIA Brake

BORNEOMYIA Brake, 2004: 2. Type species: Borneomyia tigra Brake, 2004, orig. des.
acanthophora Brake, 2004: 7. Indonesia (Sulawesi); PNG (PNG); Malaysia (Sabah).

NEOPHYLLOMYZA Melander, 1913: 243. Type species: Neophyllomyza quadricornis Melander, 1913, orig. des.
anuda Curran, 1936: 46 (Desmometopa). Solomon Is.
wulpi Hendel, 1907b: 242 (Desmometopa; n. n. for minutissima Wulp). ?PNG (PNG).
     minutissima Wulp in Kertész, 1897: 611 (Agromyza). "Neu-Guinea" [prob. = PNG (PNG)]. [Preocc. Zetterstedt, 1860.]

PARAMYIA Williston, 1897: 1. Type species: Paramyia nigra Williston, 1897 [= ?Phyllomyza nitens Loew, 1869], mon.
Unidentified spp.--Australia (NSW, Qld, Tas, WA) (D.H. Colless, in litt.).

PHYLLOMYZA Fallén, 1810a: 20. Type species: Phyllomyza securicornis Fallén, 1823, subs. mon. Fallén, 1823f: 8.
Unidentified spp.--Australia (NSW, NT, Qld, WA), Easter I, Indonesia (Irian Jaya), Solomon Is.

STOMOSIS Melander, 1913: 242. Type species: Desmometopa luteola Coquillett, 1902 [= Agromyza innominata Williston, 1896], orig. des.
arachnophila Brake & Tschirnhaus, 2010: 92. Australia (WA).
flavoscutellata Malloch, 1925f: 88. Australia (Vic).
vittata Malloch, 1925f: 89. Australia (NSW); Australia (ACT).

EUSIPHONA Coquillett, 1897: 49. Type species: Eusiphona mira Coquillett 1897, orig. des.
Unidentified spp.--Australia (NSW, NT, WA).

MILICHIA Meigen, 1830: 131. Type species: Milichia speciosa Meigen, 1830, des. Westwood, 1840: 151.
angustifrons Bezzi, 1928: 161. Fiji.
minuta Walker, 1865b: 129. "New Guinea" [= Indonesia (Irian Jaya)].
orientalis Malloch, 1913a: 109. Guam; Belau, Hawaiian Is, Kiribati (Gilbert Is), Northern Marianas, Tonga, Vanuatu.
piscivora Malloch, 1926d: 547. Australia (Qld); Australia (NSW).

MILICHIELLA Giglio-Tos, 1895: 367. Type species: Tephritis argentea Fabricius, 1805 [misid., = Milichiella tosi Becker, 1907], mon.
ECCOPTOMMA Becker, 1907: 540. Type species: Eccoptomma frontale Becker, 1907, des. Malloch, 1934f: 463.
argentea Fabricius, 1805: 323 (Tephritis). Indonesia (Maluku); ?Solomon Is.
badia Brake, 2009: 95. Australia (NSW).
bakeri Aldrich, 1931: 398. Philippines; Indonesia (Maluku).
bella Brake, 2009: 115. Vanuatu.
bemaguiensis Brake, 2009: 116. Australia (NSW).
boolombae Brake, 2009: 96. Australia (Qld).
circularis Aldrich, 1931: 397. Hawaiian Is.
cooloolae Brake, 2009: 97. Australia (Qld).
lacteipennis Loew, 1866a: 185 [1872b: 63] (Lobioptera). Cuba; widesp. Pacific Is E to Pitcairn Is, N to Hawaiian Is, W to Bonin Is; virtually cosmopol. [probably distributed in commerce].
lacteiventris Malloch, 1931c: 77. Australia (Qld); ?Guam.
longiseta Hardy & Delfinado, 1980: 365. Hawaiian Is.
mollis Brake, 2009: 97. Australia (NSW).
multisetae Brake, 2009: 96. PNG (PNG).
nigella Iwasa, 2011: 194. Indonesia (Maluku).
nigripes Malloch, 1931c: 77. Australia (NSW).
rutila Brake, 2009: 141. Australia (Qld).
spinithera Hendel, 1913: 107. Taiwan; Indonesia (Maluku); Japan, Nepal, Thailand.
weejasperensis Brake, 2009: 146. Australia (NSW).

PHOLEOMYIA Bilimek, 1867: 903. Type species: Pholeomyia leucozona Bilimek, 1867, mon.
politifacies Sabrosky, 1959: 323. Dominican Republic; French Polynesia (Society Is) [prob. immigrant].