Milichiidae online

In the stem-species pattern of the Milichiidae and of the Chloropidae family-group, the surstyli are not fused with the epandrium. However, such a fusion occurs convergently in Neophyllomyza and Stomosis.
In the stem-species pattern of the Chloropidae family-group (present in all four families), the tip of the surstylus is sharp or very narrow. Within the Milichiidae this character state is present in Desmometopa, Enigmilichia, Litometopa, the Milichia speciosa-group, and Pholeomyia. The surstylus is apically rounded convergently in stem-species E (Neophyllomyza+Paramyia, Stomosis, Xenophyllomyza+Aldrichiomyza), Eusiphona, Madiza, Leptometopa, and Milichia distinctipennis. Milichiella is characterised by a slightly spoon-shaped surstylus, and in Ulia the surstylus has two lappets. In Phyllomyza and Borneomyia the surstylus is deeply notched at the middle. This may be an apomorphy for stem-species C (Borneomyia, Costlima, Microsimus+Phyllomyza), but needs to be checked for Costalima and Microsimus, which have not been dissected. In Stomosis there is a small appendage on the anterior side of the surstylus in some species. In other species there is a larger appendage.
The margins of the surstylus are more or less smooth; only in Madiza is the distal margin densely dentate, and in Enigmilichia (Deeming 1981, fig. 8) and Eusiphona the posterior margin is evenly dentate. I do not know whether the dentation in Enigmilichia and Eusiphona is homologous, because I have not studied the terminalia of Enigmilichia myself. (ex Brake 2000)