Redefinition and synonymy of genera in the Ophiomyia genus group, with the description of Euhexomyza new genus (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

Generic boundaries are reevaluated in the subfamily Agromyzinae (Diptera: Agromyzidae), specifically, amongst those taxa in the Ophiomyia genus group. Ophiomyia Braschnikov, 1897 is redefined on the basis of an anteriorly truncated clypeus, the only character consistently found in all species of this diverse group, with very few exceptions. This results in the synonymy of the species-poor genera Kleinschmidtimyia Spencer, 1986 new synonym, Penetagromyza Spencer, 1959 new synonym, and Hexomyza Enderlein, 1936 new synonym. Many species of Hexomyza are recombined as Ophiomyia and one species is returned to Melanagromyza Hendel, 1920, but the remainding species form a small, mostly Holarctic clade that is here given the new genus name Euhexomyza new genus. Melanagromyza and Tropicomyia Spencer, 1973 are also redefined, and while most Tropicomyia belong to a single lineage, at least one is clearly of separate origins and the genus should be reclassified following closer examination. Epidermomyia Ipe and Ipe, 2004 new synonym is included as a junior synonym of Tropicomyia. Although larval morphology and life history have sometimes been found to be predictive of phylogeny in the Agromyzinae, superficially similar feeding strategies in the broadly inclusive categories of leaf mining, stem mining/boring, and gall forming are found to occur independently multiple times throughout the subfamily and can be misleading when delimiting genus-level groups. © © Entomological Society of Canada 2014Â.