Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 May 2012
The characters of Omomyia are compared with those of the tephritoid complex of families (Lonchaeidae, Otitidae, Platystomatidae, Pyrgotidae, Tephritidae, Tachiniscidae, Richardiidae, Pallopteridae, Neotteophilidae, Piophilidae, and Thyreophoridae). The possession of a peculiar piercing-type ovipositor by all females of this assemblage, including Omomyia, is considered a strong synapomorphic feature of the complex. Omomyia is found to be a sister-group of two aberrant richardiid genera, Automola Loew and Epiplatea Loew. Consequently, Omomyia is transferred from the Thyreophoridae to the Richardiidae with a suggestion that Automola, Epiplatea, Omomyia, and several other genera represent a separate subfamily of Richardiidae. The paper contains one table and three figures.