Schizomyia Kieffer

Dorchin, Netta & Freidberg, Amnon, 2011, The gall midges (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae) of Apiaceae in Israel, Zootaxa 3044, pp. 28-48 : 39

Genus Schizomyia Kieffer

Type species: Schizomyia galiorum Kieffer 1889: 183 . Paraschizomyia Möhn , new synonym

Type species: Cecydomyia buboniae ( Frauenfeld) 1859 : 325.

Schizomyia is a cosmopolitan genus in the tribe Asphondyliini with 53 described species that are characterized by four segmented palpi and a needle-like ovipositor, and are known from diverse plant families and galls ( Gagné 2010). Several closely related genera, including the monotypic Kiefferia Mik , Paraschizomyia Möhn , and Placochela Rübsaamen , were separated from Schizomyia based on minor morphological attributes. In erecting Paraschizomyia for Cecidomyia buboniae Frauenfeld, Möhn (1961) stated that this species does not belong in Schizomyia because of the simple circumfila on the female flagellomeres that are not interconnected and do not form loops as in Schizomyia , the well developed pupal antennal bases that form horns in Paraschizomyia but not in Schizomyia , and the reduced number of terminal papillae in the larva (four pairs in Schizomyia , only two in Paraschizomyia ). Based on our study of P. buboniae and its close relative that is newly described in the present paper, we maintain that the first character does not hold true (the female circumfila in these two species do comprise loops and anastomoses) and that the second and third are adaptive characters that depend on the type of gall in which the species develops. We therefore consider the genus Paraschizomyia unjustified and synonymize it here under Schizomyia .