11 



Anthomyia; in 1897, Stein transferred it to Ophyra Robineau-Desvoi dy 

 1830 (Johnson and Venard, 1957). Several subsequent descriptions of 

 the genus have been published, all placing Ophyra in the family 

 Anthomyiidae (Mai loch, 1923; Seguy, 1923; Aldrich, 4928; Graham- 5mi th , 

 1916; and Bryan, 193*0. After studying the male terminal ia, Crampton 

 (19^) decided that Ophyra was a typical muscid, and placed it in that 

 family, where it remains. Sabrosky, in 19^*9, described the genus in 

 the Pacific region. 



Distribution. Ophyra aenescens occurs in the United States from 

 Oregon to Arizona, and from Illinois to the East Coast and Florida 

 (Greenberg, 1971). It is also found in the Neotropics, the Galapagos 

 Islands, Hawaii, Nauru, the Ocean Islands, and possibly in Bermuda 

 (Stone et al . , 1965) . 



Biology and rearing . The biology and morphology of Ophyra 



aenescens were described by Johnson and Venard in 1957- They used a 



TM 

 larval medium consisting mainly of C.S.M.A. standard preparation. 



Initially, adults were maintained on cane sugar dissolved in water, but 

 no fertile eggs were produced until a source of animal protein was pro- 

 vided. Fish meal was used dry as a protein source and moistened as 

 a site for oviposition. Eggs hatched in 12 to 16 hours at 28° C. 

 The development periods for the three larval instars and the pupal 

 stage averaged 9 and k days, respectively. The complete cycle required 

 a minimum of 1 h days at 27° C + 1. Males lived an average of 15 days 

 and females lived an average of 20 days. 



Roddy (1955) used a bacto-agar medium for rearing larvae. Prepara- 

 tion was time consuming and laborious compared to the C.S.M.A. medium of 

 Johnson and Venard (1957). 



