Otitidae, or picture-winged flies, consist of acalypterate flies with a markedly Northern Hemisphere distribution. However, some members of the family show great diversity in the moist tropics. Some 400 species have been described in about 50 genera. Recorded biologies of living forms are sparse, but larvae have been found in rotting wood, animal excrement, decaying vegetation, and the fruits of some grains.

In addition to the described forms below, undetermined material of the family is known from the Eocene/Oligocene Baltic amber (Hennig, 1965: 70), the Oligocene/Miocene amber of the Dominican Republic (Poinar, 1992; Evenhuis, pers. observ.), and the Eocene/Oligocene deposits of the Bembridge Marls on the Isle of Wight (Jarzembowski, 1979: 251).

*HERINA Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 724. Type species: Herina liturata Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830 [= Musca germanationis Rossi, 1790], by subsequent designation of Westwood (1840: 159).

splendida Meunier, 1910c: 146. AF: Madagascar (Holocene) [K].

LITHORTALIS Scudder, 1877b: 278. Type species: Lithortalis picta Scudder, 1877, by monotypy.

picta Scudder, 1877b: 278. NE: USA (Oligocene) [C].

*MELIERIA Robineau-Desvoidy, 1830: 715. Type species: Musca crassipennis Fabricius, 1794, by subsequent designation of Rondani (1856: 108) [as "Ortalis crassipennis Fall."].
[Contrary to the opinion of Soós (1984: 51) this designation is valid by Article 67(f) of the Code.]

atavina Cockerell, 1917b: 379. NE: USA (Oligocene) [C].
calligrapha Melander, 1949: 50. NE: USA (Oligocene) [C].