299 



Family Ropalomeridae 



Moderately large tropical flies of a brownish and grayish color. 



Front broad, excavated, with or wathout bristles; face broad, cari- 

 nate, tuberculate or the oral margin prominent; cheeks broad, hairy; 

 clypeus projecting; oral vibrisste absent; proboscis short, the palpi 

 slender or dilated; antenna? short; arista dorsal, bare or plumose. 

 Thorax elongate; mesonotum with but few bristles, usually more or less 

 mottled w'ith gray and brown; scutellum often prominent and grooved. 

 Abdomen shorter than the wings, flattened; hypopygium moderately 

 large, largely concealed; ovipositor telescopic, projecting. Femora all 



Ropalomeiid». — 1, Willistoniella; J, S, Ropalomcra ; 4, Willistoniella ; 5, Apophorhynchus. 



