Medetera is a large genus of flies in the family Dolichopodidae. It includes about 350 species worldwide. The adults are commonly found resting on vertical surfaces such as tree trunks, on which they have a characteristic vertical upright stance. Because of this stance, they are sometimes known as "woodpecker flies". Medetera adults are predators of soft-bodied arthropods, while the larvae are predators of bark beetle larvae. A 2011 molecular phylogenetic analysis of Medetera and related genera found that Medetera is paraphyletic with respect to Dolichophorus, and that Thrypticus is a sister taxon to Medetera + Dolichophorus.

Species

Taxonomy follows Bickel (1985, 1987), though some of the species groups are treated as separate genera by other authors. Unsorted: The following species are nomina dubia: The following species are synonyms of other species: The following species have been moved to other genera: