is a fundamental work of systematic entomology by the Italian entomologist Camillo Rondani. It consists of seven volumes published in Paris, Parma, Firenze (Ex Tipographia A. Stocchii between 1856 and 1877. It is written in Latin. The subject is the Diptera of Italy.
A prodromus is a preliminary publication intended as a basis for future work – Rondani's expression is "", in English a programme, or, better to say, a proposal to be examined and discussed and therefore changed, after the considerations of scholars in such materia.
Nineteen publications and twenty memoires, fragments and commentaries by Rondani complement the prodromo. These are not part of the work but integrate sections, add further information, modify, complement and illuminate the prodromo text.
Volume 1
Volume I is an overview presented as a dichotomous key of classification of the thirty-two families and eighty-four stirpi (subfamilies) of European Diptera. It is titled Genera italica ordinis depterorum ordinatim disposita et distincta et in familias et stirpes aggregata and also keys to genera very many of them new.
Carl Robert Osten-Sacken said of Volume 1 quoting Hermann Loew
"The first volume of the "Prodromus" contains dichotomic tables of the families and genera of Italian Diptera, published in advance of the intended work upon them. The number of genera (according to Loew's statement, loc. cit., p. 338) is 587 ; among them a considerable number are new ones, the names of which are introduced without any other description but that contained in the data of the dichotomic tables, connected with the name of the typical, often as yet undescribed, species. Loew was right in calling this premature publication a failure calculated to impede, rather than to advance, the future progress of dipterology. Loew enumerates a large number of errors, misspelling of names and misprints". This, however, is the technical view and whilst it is true that the Prodromus causes some nomenclatural problems the review overlooks the fact (recognised by both Osten-Sacken and Loew) that the work is a prodromus, a regional fauna and an identification manual as well as a systematic treatise in a universal language (Latin). The problem of nomina nuda was resolved as the succeeding volumes were published and the errors, misspelling of names and misprints identified by Loew were largely corrected in later errata and the Prodromus as a whole is one of the most cited works on European Diptera.
Volumes 2-7
The subsequent six volumes also present dichotomous keys so that the entire work functions as a handbook for identification as well as a regional fauna. They are titled Species italica ordinis dipterorum in genera characteribus definita, ordination collectae methodo analitica distinctae, ex novis vel minus cognotis descriptis. These six volumes contain the species descriptions. The parts are: Pars I (Prima) 1857 Oestridae Syrphidae, Conopidae Pars II (Secunda) 1859 Muscidae, Siphoninae et (partim) Tachinae Pars IV 1862 (Quarta) Muscidae, Phasiinae, Dexinae, Muscinae, Stomoxydinae Pars IV 1861 (Tertia) Muscidae Tachinarium complentum Pars V 1877 (Quinta) Stirps XVII Anthomyinae Pars VI See Part VII Pars VII (Sexta sic) 1866-1871 Scatophaginae, Sciomyzinae and Ortalidinae Pars VII Fasc I Scathophaginae Italicae collecte distincte et in ordinem depositae Pars VII Fasc II Sciomyzinae Italicae collecte distincte et in ordinem depositae Pars VII Fasc IV Linea B Tephritoidea Pars VII Ortalidinae Italicae collecte distincte et in ordinem depositae extracted from Bollettino della Societa Entomologica Italiana Vol.1 Fasc 1 and 2 1870
Collaborators Volumes 2-7
The following entomologists appear in the text
Maximilian Spinola
Luigi Bellardi
Oronzo Gabriele Costa
Achille Costa Southern Italy
Giuseppe Mussino Genoa collections from Piemontese and Liguria
Giuseppe Gené
Gaetano Giorgio Gemellaro, Professore di Geologia nella B. Uniyersiti di Palermo
Giovanni Battista Villa, 1810-1887 Milano
Eugenio Truqui Torino
M. Pecchioli Pisa
Conte Luigi D'Arco Mantova
Antonio Schembri (ornithologist) Islands
Alexander Henry Haliday
Geographic Scope
The work is an intellectual aspiration of the Risorgimento and includes records from the whole of modern Italy (post 1861) including Sicily and Sardinia excepting Rome which was not part of the Italian State until 1864.