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Genus Urophora

Thistle Stem Gall Fly - Urophora cardui - female Green Eyed Fly - Urophora quadrifasciata - male Fruit Fly - Urophora quadrifasciata - male Fruit fly - Urophora Tephritidae: Urophora cardui - Urophora cardui - male Snipe Fly6 - Urophora Fruit fly? - Urophora cardui Procecidochares sp. - Urophora cardui
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Acalyptratae")
Superfamily Tephritoidea
Family Tephritidae (Fruit Flies)
Subfamily Tephritinae
Tribe Myopitini
Genus Urophora
Explanation of Names
Urophora Robineau-Desvoidy 1830
Numbers
7 introduced spp. in our area, ~60 spp. total(1)

Urophora affinis (Frauenfeld, 1857)
Urophora cardui (Linnaeus, 1758)
Urophora jaceana (Hering, 1935)
Urophora quadrifasciata (Meigen, 1826)
Urophora sirunaseva (Hering, 1938)
Urophora solstitialis (Linaeus, 1758)
Urophora stylata (Fabricius, 1775)

Urophora jaculata was introduced to California in 1990's, but did not establish.
Identification
Only one other genus in the family has vein CuA2 straight or bowed out towards the wing tip.
Range
native to the Palaearctic (all the spp. but one occur there), introduced as weed biocontrol agents to NA(1)(2)
Life Cycle
Some (all?) spp. overwinter in galls as third instar larvae
Remarks
Several spp. have been introduced as biocontrols of non-native thistles and knapweeds (including the Yellow Starthistle Gall Fly, U. sirunaseva). U. kasachstanica & U. xanthippe are planned for release in w. US to control Russian knapweed(2)(3)