Odiniidae is a small family of flies

Fly

True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...

. There are only 58 described species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 but there are representatives in all the major biogeographic realms

Ecozone

An ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of the Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms.Ecozones delineate large areas of the Earth's surface within which organisms have been evolving in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated from...

.

Life histories are known for only few species of Odinia, and no biological information is available for the majority of species in the family. Known odiniid larvae live in the tunnels of wood-boring larvae of Coleoptera, Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

, and other Diptera

Diptera

Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...

 and function as scavengers or predators of the host larvae. One species, Turanodinia coccidarum Stackelberg, has been reared from the egg masses of Pseudococcus comstocki Kuwana, a Mealybug

Mealybug

Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm climates. They are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and subtropical trees and also acts as a vector for several plant diseases.-Distribution:Mealybugs...

.

Family description

See http://delta-intkey.com/britin/dip/www/odiniida.htm which as well as text has excellent illustrations of Odinia viz http://delta-intkey.com/britin/images/colham01.jpg.

Taxonomy

• Subfamily
  Family (biology)
  In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
  
   Odiniinae
• Afrodinia Cogan, 1975
• Neoalticomerus Hendel
  Friedrich Georg Hendel
  Friedrich Georg Hendel was an Austrian Hauptsschuldirektor and entomologist mainly interested in Diptera. He described very many new species and made important contributions to the higher taxonomy of the Diptera.He was born in Vienna and died in Baden bei Wien...
  
  , 1903
• Odinia Robineau-Desvoidy
  Jean-Baptiste Robineau-Desvoidy
  André Jean Baptiste Robineau-Desvoidy was a French physician and entomologist specialising in the study of Diptera and to some extent of the Coleoptera .-Achievements:...
  
  , 1830
• Turanodinia Stackelberg, 1944
• Subfamily Traginopinae
• Coganodinia Gaimari & Mathis, 2008
• Helgreelia Gaimari, 2007
• Lopesiodinia Prado, 1973
• Neoschildomyia Gaimari, 2007
• Neotraginops Prado, 1973
• Paratraginops Hendel
  Friedrich Georg Hendel
  Friedrich Georg Hendel was an Austrian Hauptsschuldirektor and entomologist mainly interested in Diptera. He described very many new species and made important contributions to the higher taxonomy of the Diptera.He was born in Vienna and died in Baden bei Wien...
  
  , 1917
• Pradomyia Gaimari, 2007
• Schildomyia Malloch
  John Russell Malloch
  John Russell Malloch was a Scottish entomologist who specialised in Diptera.In 1910 he emigrated to Urbana, Illinois, United States.-References:See...
  
  , 1926
• Shewellia Hennig
  Willi Hennig
  Emil Hans Willi Hennig was a German biologist who is considered the founder of phylogenetic systematics, also known as cladistics. With his works on evolution and systematics he revolutionised the view of the natural order of beings...
  
  , 1969
• Traginops Coquillett
  Daniel William Coquillett
  Daniel William Coquillett was an American entomologist who specialised in Diptera. He wrote Revision of the dipterous family Therevidae...
  
  , 1900

Identification

• Cogan, B.H.,1975 New Taxa in Two Families Previously Unrecorded from the Ethiopian Region(Diptera, Odiniidae and Diastatidae). Ann. Natal Mus. 22(2):471-488. Key to Afrotropic
  Afrotropic
  The Afrotropic is one of the Earth's eight ecozones. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the southern and eastern fringes of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the islands of the western Indian Ocean. It was formerly...
  
  genera and species.
• Prado, A. P., 1973 Contribuicão ao Conhecimento da Familia Odiniidae (Diptera, Acalyptratae). Studia Entomologica, Petrópolis, v. 16, n. 1-4, p. 481-510. Keys world genera.
• Collin, J.E. (1952), On the European species of the genus Odinia R.-D. (Diptera: Odiniidae). Proceedings of the Royal entomological Society of London (B) 21: 110-116.

Other literature

• Papp, L., 1978 71. család: Odiniidae - Taplólegyek.In: Dély-Draskovits Á. & Papp L., Taplólegyek - Gabonalegyek. Odiniidae - Chloropidae. Fauna Hung., 133, 202 pp. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest. (In Hungarian).

Species lists

• http://www.faunaeur.org/full_results.php?id=62962 Palaearctic
• http://www.nearctica.com/nomina/diptera/dipm-p.htm#anchor169558 Nearctic
• http://konchudb.agr.agr.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mokuroku/ Japan
• http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/aocat/odiniidae.html Australasian/Oceanian
• http://www.dipteristsforum.org.uk/sgb_check_browse.php?id=13354 British