PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued imiisSi- N*^l ^y '^* 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 85 Wa.hington: 1938 No. 3037 



A NEW GENUS AND TWO NEW SPECIES OF THE DIP- 

 TEROUS FAMILY PHORIDAE 



By Charles T. Greene 



Species of Phoridae exhibit considerable yariation in habit. Some 

 are known to develop upon carrion, upon dead and decaying snails, 

 upon dead insects of various orders, and upon decaying vegetable 

 matter. Two species are recorded from cocoons of the elm sawfly, 

 Cimbex americana Leach, and two others from nests of the wasp 

 Vespula germanica (Fabricius), while several species have been col- 

 lected from exhumed human bodies. The larvae of Syneura coc- 

 ciphila Coquillett have been reported infesting the heads of the cot- 

 tony cushion scale, Icerya jmrchasi Maskell, and unidentified larvae, 

 thought to be those of a phorid, have been found in the heads of 

 termites. Numerous species are myrmecophilous. Some are said to 

 attack ants directly, as, for example, Apocephalus coquilletti Malloch 

 and A. siniiUs Malloch, which are recorded as attacking species of 

 Camponotus; while others are known to be inquilines or commensals. 



The material described in this paper came to the writer recently for 

 identification. Both species were taken in association with certain 

 species of ants, upon which they may be parasitic. 



ATTAMYIA, new genus 



Head of medium size ; f rons with one pair of postantennal bristles ; 

 the usual frontal bristles present, except that the middle pair ordi- 

 narily located immediately above the postantennal pair are absent. 

 Mesopleuron bare. Wings of usual size; third vein not forked at 



51716—38 181 



