DASTPOGONINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE "WORLD 



29 



The legs bear dense, short, appressed setae dorsally. 

 The ventral surfaces of the femora and tibiae with a 

 dense, erect fringe of moderately long pile. Tibial 

 setae brush restricted to apex. Bristles are compara- 

 tively few, more numerous on the middle and hind 

 legs, and are short but rather stout. The type of 

 genus bears the following complement of bristles : hind 

 femur with 2 or 3 lateral bristles near the base, 2 to 4 

 others medially on the basal half, apex with 1 lateral, 

 1 dorsal, and 2 medial bristles. This tibia bears 5 dor- 

 solateral, 5 to 7 dorsal; apex with 2 dorsal, 2 lateral, 2 

 or 3 medial and 5 or 6 ventral bristles. Middle femur 

 with 3 or 4 fine, short bristles posteriorly, 4 at the apex 

 and 10 or more short bristles laterally. This tibia 

 bears 4 anterior, 5 or 6 posterior and 5 dorsal bristles, 

 all short and stout. Anterior femur with posteriorly 

 a bristle in the middle, a posterior cluster of 3 at the 

 outer third and the same apical bristles as the middle 

 femur; this tibia bears 6 short dorsal, 6 longer poste- 

 rior ones, 4 slender ventral bristles. Protibial apex 

 without spine. Claws sharp ; pulvillus may be half as 

 long as claws or well developed. Empodium long. 



Wings : Marginal cell and all posterior cells widely 

 open ; second basal cell ends in three veins. Anal cell 

 widely open in the sixteen species before me. Alula 

 quite short, the ambient vein complete. 



Abdomen: The abdomen is elongate, rather slender 

 subbasally, often subclavate, characteristically bare and 

 polished, with very short, fine, suberect, scanty pile. 

 Males with 8 tergites, the eighth only one-fifth as long 

 as the seventh. Females with 8 tergites, the last one- 

 third as long as the seventh. Segments 2 to 5 distinctly 

 elongate and each longer than wide. Bristles absent, 

 except on the first tergite, where they are weak. Male 

 terminalia moderately large, not rotate, the epandrium 

 undivided, but often as in the subgenus Eudioctria Wil- 

 cox and Martin, with a deep, wide or narrow cleft and 

 lateral lobes, or sometimes with apical tooth or hair 

 tuft, and with short, lateral spur. Hypandrium very 

 short; gonopod large, rounded and convex and gen- 

 erally lobate at apex. Female terminalia very short, 

 divided dorsally and without spines. 



The flies of Dioctria are weak flying species that 

 characteristically associate with the leaves of low 

 undergrowth and shrubs or herbs and are often 

 about alders. 



The flies of the genus Dioctria, sensu lato, are 

 Holarctic in distribution. Some American species are 

 dimorphic. The introduced European species Dioc- 

 tria baumhaueri Meigen is found in the eastern United 

 States. There is a dense concentration of species in 

 eastern and central Europe, and on the Pacific coast 

 of the United States. Probably the three species de- 

 scribed from each of the Neotropical and Ethiopian 

 regions and certainly the two Australian species belong 

 elsewhere; Dioctria tenuis Walker appears to belong 

 to the genus Mirolestes Curran. The Nearctic species 

 have been reviewed by Wilcox and Martin (1941). 



Distribution: Nearctic: Dioctria albicornis Wilcox 

 and Martin (1941) ; albius Walker (1849), albius auri- 



facies Wilcox and Martin (1941), albius xanthopennis 

 Wilcox and Martin (1941) ; banksi Johnson (1918) 

 [ = longicornis Banks (1917), not Meigen], banksi tibi- 

 alis Wilcox and Martin (1941) ; beameri Wilcox and 

 Martin (1941) ; brevis Banks (1917) ; doanei Melander 

 (1923) ; henshawi Johnson (1918) [=flavipes Banks 

 (1917), not Meigen]; media Banks (1917) ; monrovia 

 Wilcox and Martin (1941); nitida Williston (1884), 

 nitida denuda Wilcox and Martin (1941) ; parvula 

 Coquillett (1893) ; pleurals Banks (1917) ; propinqua 

 Bromley (1924); pusio Osten Sacken (1887); re- 

 splendens Loew (1872); rubida Coquillett (1893), 

 rubida nigripilosa Wilcox and Martin (1941), rubida 

 atripes Wilcox and Martin (1941) ; sacheni Williston 

 (1884), sacheni rivalis Melander (1923) ; seminole 

 Bromley (1924); vera Back (1909); vertebrata Cole 

 (1919). 



Neotropical (allocation dubious) : Dioctria nigrita 

 Fabricius (1805) ; tenuis Walker (1851) ; vicina Mac- 

 quart (1838). 



Palaearctic: Dioctria abdominalis Becker (1923) ; 

 arthritica Loew (1871); atricapilla Meigen (1804) 

 [=atrata Wiedeman in Meigen (1820), falleni Meigen 

 (1820), fuscipennis Fallen (1814), fuscipes Gimmerthal 

 (1847), geniculate Meigen (1820), nigripes Meigen 

 (1804)], atricapilla rufimana Loew (1840) ; atrorubens 

 Seguy (1930); baumhaueri Meigen (1820); berlandi 

 Seguy (1927); bicincta Meigen (1820) [= %annulata 

 Meigen (1820), infuscata Meigen (1820)] ; bigoti Costa, 

 (18S4) ; caesia Pallas in Wiedemann (1818) ; calceata 

 Meigen (1820), calceata nigriventris Strobl (1902); 

 cavifrons Enderlein (1934) ; claripennis Villeneuve 

 (1908); conspicua Becker (1923); contraria Becker 

 (1923) ; cothurnata Meigen (1820) [=meigeni Shuck- 

 ard (1841), umbellatarum Meigen (1820)]; cretensis 

 Becker (1923) ; dispar~Loew (1871) ; fiavicincta Eoeder 

 (1884) ; flavipennis Meigen (1820) [ = aurifrom Meigen 

 (1820) ] ; fuscipes Macquart (1834) [=melanopa Egger 

 (1859), melanopogon Schiner (1862)] ; gagates Wiede- 

 mann in Meigen (1820) [= semihyalina Wiedemann in 

 Meigen (1820), oedipus Loew (1869)], gagates stria- 

 tipes Becker (1923) ; gracilis Meigen (1820) [=hyali- 

 pennis Meigen (1820), not Fabricius, concinna Costa 

 (1883)]; harcyniae Loew (1844); humeralis Zeller 

 (1840), hyalipennis Fabricius (1794) [ = anomala Mac- 

 quart (1826), flavipes Meigen (1804), frontalis Meigen 

 ( 1804) , not Fabricius, varipes Meigen ( 1820) ] ; koicarsi 

 Frivaldszky (1877); lata Loew (1853); lateralis Mei- 

 gen (1804) [ = Iiaemorrhoidalis Meigen (1820), not 

 Fabricius]; lenta Becker (1923); linearis Fabricius 

 (1787) , [ = linearis Meigen (1830) , cingulata Zetterstedt 

 (1849)]; liturata Loew (1873); longicornis Meigen 

 (1820) [= frontalis Panzer (1797)]; lugens Loew 

 (1873); meridionalis Bezzi (1898); meyeri Nowicki 

 (1867) , meyeri nigripes Engel (1930) ; minuta Pallas in 

 Wiedemann (1818) [=maculata Wiedemann (1818)]; 

 mixta Becker (1923) ; navasi Seguy (1929) ; nigriharba 

 Lowe (1871) ; notha Seguy (1941) ; ochrifacies Becker 

 (1906) ; oelandica Linne (1758) [ = nigra Latreille 

 (1804)], oelandica limbata Loew (1840); podagrica 



