Chromatomyia Hardy, 1849
Introduction and monophyly
This genus is closely related to and very similar with Phytomyza and Napomyza. Those three genera share many characters, particularly the frontorbital hairs being proclinate orbitalsetulae id.pct. The monophyly of Chromatomyia was founded by Graham Griffiths mainly by puparial and adult characters:
The "slipper-shaped" puparium chr milii puparium.pct remains within the mine with the ventral surface to the upper epidermis of the leaf (Griffiths, 1967). Frequently, the anterior spiracles project through the leaf epidermis.
The apical section of the ejaculatory duct appears simple (not bifid), as in most Phytomyza. It lies below a lobe on the dorsal side of the aedeagus (Griffiths, 1974)
However, both characters are not unequivocal; a clear distinction from the closely related genus Phytomyza is not possible. Further studies are required.
Further characters
Body mainly dark, especially the scutellum, but often with lightish sections Chr syngenesiae.pct.
Basiphallus with side arms long and well developed. Appendages of basiphallus conspicuous. Distiphallus often extremely small and weakly pigmented. Therefore, morphological details such as terminal tubules are often not unambiguously visible. However, usually apical section of distiphallus appears to be simple instead of bifid as in most Phytomyza species.
As in Phytomyza, the surstyli are sometimes articulated.
Immature stages not very different to Phytomyza-leaf-miners but often with extraordinary lateral sense organs Chr nigra Larva SEM1.pct. Some species as Chromatomyia milii show characteristically enlarged anterior spiracles with a highly amplified number of bulbs Chr milii Larva SEM2.pct.
Bionomics
Chromatomyia species are leaf miners of Poaceae and various dicotyledonean families. One species, scolopendri, is specialized in a species of the fern family Aspleniaceae.
Economical importance
Especially horticola and syngenesiae belong to the most serious pests infesting various crops.