2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 123 



State University, Oregon State University, the University of Arizona, 

 and the University of California at Berkeley, Davis, and Riverside. 

 Holotypes and allotypes, unless otherwise stated, are in the United 

 States National Museum. 



Three names are currently available for species-level taxa in this 

 complex, namely H. aurata Bellardi ( type-locality Morelia, Michoacan, 

 Mexico), H. chrysopila Loew (described from specimens from Texas 

 in the Belfrage collection), and H. eiseni Townsend (described from 

 the Eisen collection from southern Baja California, Mexico). These 

 three are herein recognized as distinct species, contrary to the usage 

 in the "Catalog." The seven new species described below, with 

 two exceptions, show very close affinities with the above three and 

 constitute a natural group of species that apparently is restricted 

 geographically to Mexico and the southwestern United States. 

 The two exceptions, Hermetia anthidium and H. conjuncta, can 

 readily be added to the group by some extension of its definition; 

 however, they undoubtedly are more remote from the complex that 

 forms the core of the group. The eight species of the core complex, 

 or at least seven of them, can be interpreted as a superspecies. Five 

 of these — namely, H. chrysopila, H. aurata, H. eiseni, H. ryckmani, 

 and H. melanderi (figs. 11, 12) — are completely allopatric in respect 

 to one another. The distribution of H. chrysopila (fig. 11) is east- 

 ward from the front range of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra 

 Madre Oriental to the 95th meridian and between parallels 23° and 

 41° N; H. melanderi extends, west of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra 

 Madre Occidental, from southeastern Arizona and southwestern 

 New Mexico to northern Sinaloa; H. ryckmani occurs only in western 

 Arizona and southern California; and H. eiseni occurs only in southern 

 Baja California. Of the other three species, H. nigricornis and 

 H. subpellucida are partially sympatric with each other and with 

 H. melanderi but essentially allopatric with the other species, H. 

 subpellucida extending only slightly into the range of H. aurata. 

 The one known locality for H. impressa falls within the range of 

 H. aurata. Male genitalia in the core complex are very homogeneous 

 throughout; there is some variation from species to species, but 

 variation within a species also occurs. It is possible that H. impressa 

 should be excluded from the core complex, but its males, and 

 consequently the male genitalia, are unknown. 



Members of the group can be recognized readily by the combination 

 of densely pilose eyes and the profile of the face: from the front view, 

 the face is regularly rounded below; from the lateral view, it does not 

 project conelike below the level of the eyes as is the case in most 

 of the genus. Hermetia anthidium (fig. 1) is somewhat exceptional in 



