NO - 3622 STRATIOMYIDAE JAMES 11 



bellardii stands out in strong contrast to the color of the thorax and 

 abdomen and is not merely a reddening of certain integumentary- 

 areas, as is so often the case. There are a number of other differences 

 between the two, but Artemita inornata seems most closely related to 

 Acanthina bellardii. One morphological peculiarity that the two have 

 in common is the presence of a polished depressed area at the base of 

 the antero ventral surface of the hind tibia. This does not occur in the 

 other species of Artemita known to me nor in the related genera 

 Spaniomyia, Acanthinomyia, and Cibotogaster. 



The reference of Acanthina inornata to Artemita is quite clear even 

 though this species will trace only imperfectly to that genus in the 

 keys of Kertesz (1914, 1916) and Lindner (1964). The scutellum is on 

 a plane with the mesonotum, as in Acanthinomyia, and without a 

 deep groove separating them, but the mesonotum is not flattened, as 

 in Acanthinomyia, and the other characters of signifiance, as well as 

 the general appearance, are those of Artemita. In Acanthina bellardii 

 the incision between the scutellum and the mesonotum is likewise 

 shallow, not much more noticeable than in Artemita inornata. 



Because of the brevity of Williston's description and the fact that 

 the illustration accompanying it is erroneous in at least two respects 

 (antennal and scutellar structure; cf. Kertesz, 1914), and because of 

 the vagueness in such respects as the description of the mesonotal 

 and abdominal pattern, the females from Dominica are described 

 herein in detail. 



Female. — Occiput except orbits and broad lateral margins and 

 genae except orbits black, head otherwise yellow, becoming reddish 

 yellow on upper occipital orbits and margin, cerebrale, midfrontal 

 line, and lower frons and face. Frons at narrowest about 0.14 head 

 width, widening to about 0.20 head width at vertex and also to 

 about 0.20 head width at frontal callus, thence broadening abruptly 

 to face. Eyes with moderately dense and long pile; pile mostly yellow 

 but prominently black above. Pile of head yellow. Antenna very 

 similar to that of Artemita convexa Walker or Artemita aurata Macquart 

 (cf. Kertesz, 1914, fig. 28), but terminal flagellar segment slightly 

 longer and more slender; scape and pedicel reddish yellow, flagellum 

 reddish at base, gradually becoming black toward apex; first three 

 flagellomeres with whitish sensoria against the darker background; 

 apex of flagellum with three or four erect hairs. Proboscis black. 



Thorax black with whitish to yellowish appressed pile; mesonotum 

 with three longitudinal vittae that lack this pile and have instead 

 inconspicuous black pile, the outer vittae reaching the corners of the 

 scutellum but widely separated from the humeri, the median one 

 broad and running from anterior margin of mesonotum to base of 

 scutellum, from anterior view interrupted by a median vitta of golden 



