Pair of setae situated posterior to ocellar triangle
In the stem-species pattern of the Milichiidae, the postocellar setae are cruciate, because this is the character state present in the Chloropidae. In the Acartophthalmidae, the postocellar setae are diverging and in the Carnidae they are parallel. Since the inclination of the postocellar setae is variable in other Schizophora, the stem-species pattern of the Chloropidae family-group cannot be determined at present.
Within the Milichiidae, the stem-species pattern is represented in the Phyllomyzinae, in which the postocellar setae are cruciate or so strongly converging that the tips of the setae meet. A synapomorphy for the Madizinae and Milichiinae are parallel or only slightly converging postocellar setae, but in some Pholeomyia species they are strongly converging secondarily (from Brake 2000).