Miller. — The Diptera Fauna of New Zealand. 307 



S. viridiceps Wied.* (Plate XLVIII, fig. 4.) 



8. viridiceps Wied., Miller, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 46, p. 126 (1914). 

 S. obesus Hutton, Trans. N.Z, Inst., vol. 33, p. 41 (1901). 



This species is very abundant in Australia, and is fairly common in the 

 North Auckland Peninsula as far north as Parengarenga ; it is also common 

 on the Kermadec IslancL. 



Both sexes are robust ; eyes bare, holoptic in male ; face orange or 

 greyish -yellow with a darker median stripe ; upper part of front in female 

 shiny black, this colour forming a median stripe along the orange-yellow 

 lower front. Antennae orange-brown. Dorsum of thorax shiny purplish- 

 black, margined with tawny on each side ; pleurae with a tawny trans- 

 verse band ; thorax of male thickly haired, but sparsely so in the 

 female ; scutellum tawny, orange- or brownish-yellow ; legs tawny ; femora 

 blackish-brown proximally ; tarsi fuscous. Wings clear ; halteres tawny. 



Abdomen ovate and broad ; shiny black between the tawny markings ; 

 basal segment somewhat bluish ; 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th segments mostly 

 occupied by tawny or orange -red markings, forming a pair of large spots 

 on the 2nd and 5th segments and a broad band on the 3rd and 4th segments 

 in the male ; in the female the markings consist of a pair of large spots 

 narrowly interrupted in the middle of the 2nd to 5th segments. 



(?. Length, 8 mm. $. Length, 8-5 mm. 



Genus Melanostoma Schiner. 



Eyes bare, holoptic in male ; antennae short, 3rd joint oval ; arista 

 pubescent or bare. Face slightly produced to knob, black or metallic in 

 ground-colour and frequently pruinose. Thorax black or metallic, usually 

 brilliant ; legs normal, yellow or fuscous. Abdomen with or without 

 yellow markings, ovate in female but more or less rectangular in male. 



Table of Species. 



Abdomen with yellow markings . . . . . . fasciatum. 



Abdomen immaculate . . . . . . . . apertum. 



M. fasciatum Macq. 



Plesia fasciata Macquart, Dipt. Exot., Suppl. 4 ; p. 461, pi. 14, fig. 15 

 (1880). Melanostoma fasciatum Hutton, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 33, 

 p. 42 (1901) ; Cat. Dipt. N.Z., p. 45 (1881). 



A very common, rather small fly, readily recognized by the bright- 

 yellow markings of the abdomen. 



c?. Eyes bare, holoptic ; vertex black, clothed with very short black 

 hairs ; ocelli orange ; front shiny brownish-black clothed with short 

 black hairs. Antennae (fig. 41) somewhat elongate; 1st joint black; 

 2nd black basally, l eddish-yellow apically ; 3rd tawny, sometimes rather 

 reddish, oval, pubescent, and with a black area at apex extending over upper 

 edge to base of arista, which is reddish-brown and pubescent ; lunular area 

 with a reddish-yellow spot on each side at base of antennae. Face shiny 

 bronzy-black, greyish-pruinose, sparsely clothed with silvery hairs ; its 



* I am indebted to Mr. W. W. Froggatt, Government Entomologist, New South 

 Wales, for checking the identification of this species. 



