Ornidia is small group of brilliant metallic green or purple Flies found mainly in the New World tropics: Anyone who has spent time in these tropics knows these beautiful Flies as they are common around human habitations. The genus contains only 4 species: One common species found everywhere in the New World tropics and that has spread extensively through the Old World tropics during the last century with commerce, two others which are less common but widespread, and one new species, presently known from a few specimens from Panama and Colombia. This paper presents a revision of the genus, with complete synonymies (except only major references given for obesa), descriptions, and distributional and biological data for all taxa.

The brilliant green or blue Flower Flies of the genus Ornidia are found throughout the New World tropics and extend into the Old World tropics and North America. They breed in wet decaying matter, are known to carry bacteria of public health inportance, and have been used to convert waste from coffee bean production into protein supplement for cattle. The systematics of these important Flower Flies is documented.

Taxonomy

Ornidia belongs to the tribe Volucellini and is the sister of Copestylum [Volucellini = Graptomyza + (Volucella + (Ornidia + Copestylum)), see Thompson & Whitehead (1986) for explanation of cladistic formulae] (Thompson (1972)). The genus is defined (synapomorphy) by its facial and notopleural structure, the arrangement of a large medial and smaller sublateral tubercles on the face (Figs. 1-3), and the enlarged, posteriorly produced notopleuron (Fig. 4), states which are unique among Flower Flies. The cladistic relationships are derived from the following characters (see table 1), with the polarity determined by outgroup comparison (tribe Rhinigiini, genus Ferdinandea):
Ornidia is an endemic New World group consisting of 4 known species. One species (obesa), however, is hemisynanthropic and has spread extensively in the Pacific and across the Orient to the east coast of Africa. The cladistic relationships among the species (Ornidia = aemula + (obesa + (major + whiteheadi))) are tentative as they rest on only a few characters (size, scutellar depression, male terminalia), and without knowing the outgroup the polarity of these characters is uncertain.

Abstract Nomenclature Description Phylogeny Key Literature Cited

Species Ornidia aemula Ornidia major Ornida obesa Ornida whiteheadi