Rhopalia Macquart, 1838

Dikow, T., 2010, Order Diptera, family Mydidae, Arthropod Fauna of the United Arab Emirates 3, Abu Dhabi: Dar Al Ummah, pp. 608-615 : 612

Genus Rhopalia Macquart, 1838

The genus Rhopalia comprises 13 species distributed in the southern Palaearctic Region (northern Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia as well as Afghanistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates). Two species are here recorded from the UAE of which one has been collected for the first time only very recently. The three most recent publications on this genus were published by Séguy (1941), Bequaert (1961), and Lyneborg (1970). Although these studies provide help in identification of species, correct determination of all species seems at present not possible. This is partly due to the fact that male and female specimens of the same species might be morphologically (and particularly in colouration) quite different.