Daphnephila is a genus of gall midge that appears in the Palearctic and Oriental biogeographic realms.^[5] Daphnephila species create leaf and stem galls on species of laurel plants, particularly in Machilus.^[5] Based on analysis on sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, it has been suggested that in this genus, the stem-galling habit is a more ancestral state as opposed to the leaf-galling habit.^[3]

Daphnephila was first described in 1905 by French entomologist Jean-Jacques Kieffer.^[1] It contains at least nine described species from India, Japan, and Taiwan, and many more undescribed species are known.^[2] The genus appears to have originated tropically and dispersed to Japan through Taiwan.^[3]