258 Transactions. 



Art. XXX. — Notes on the Blepharoceridae (Diptera) of New Zealand. 



By J. W. Campbell. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 4th November, 1920 ; received by 

 Editor, 31st December, 1920 : issxied separately, 20th July, 1921.] 



Attention was first drawn to the occurrence of Blepharoceridae in New 

 Zealand by Dr. Charles Chilton (1906), who described a larva which he 

 pointed out closely resembled that of Curupira torrentium F. Mull. Seven 

 years later Mr. C. G. Lamb (1913), of Clare College, Cambridge, described, 

 from material supplied by Mr. G. V. Hudson, two new genera and species 

 of Blepharocerid flies. The first of these, of which only males were known, 

 was called Neocurupira hudsoni, and the second, which was represented by 

 both sexes (the females immature), was named Peritheates turrifer. In the 

 following year Professor Mario Bezzi (1914) published descriptions of three 

 larvae which he had received from Dr. Chilton. He designated them 

 larva A, larva B, and larva C, the first of which was identical with 

 Dr. Chilton's " larva ? Curupira,'" and " probably Neocurupira hudsoni 

 Lamb." (Bezzi, 1914, p. 118.) 



In November, 1919, Mr. W. G. Howes, of Dunedin, and the present 

 writer took specimens of a third fly, intermediate in size between the two 

 described by Lamb, while in December of this year Mr. T. R. Harris, of 

 Ohakune, captured a fourth. These two flies are described in this article, 

 some notes on larval forms being also given. 



There seems to be some uncertainty as to which of the larvae A, B, 

 and C belong to the two flies described by Lamb. Bezzi associated Neo- 

 curupira hudsoni Lamb with larva A, and Peritheates turrifer with larva C, 

 leaving larva B unrepresented in the imago. He writes, "The first of the 

 two genera described by Lamb, called Neocurupira, belongs to my second 

 subfamily Paltostominae, and apparently differs only in the much longer 

 proboscis from the Brazilian Curupira. But I have already shown how 

 this character is an uncertain one, while both the characters of the assumed 

 larvae [the italics are mine] show the dorsal covering to have a greater 

 number of spines than in Curupira, where they are inserted on special 

 tubercles. The new species Neocurupira hudsoni Lamb, on account of its 

 colour, aspect, and dimensions, closely corresponds with Curupira torrentium 

 and other allied forms in Brazil." (Bezzi, 1914, p. 116.) Referring to the 

 larvae, he says (p. 117), " One of them I believe is certainly related to 

 Neocurupira, while the other two belong to the Apistomyinae, and the 

 smaller of these is Peritheates.'" He continues (p. 118), " I shall therefore 

 call the first larva A, which apparently belongs to the group Curupira in 

 possessing dorsal spines and tracheal gills not arranged in tufts " ; and 

 further (p. 119), " In proportion this larva is much larger than the 

 others." Larvae B and C he describes as with " dorsum unarmed and 

 bare" (p. 122-23). 



