DASYPOGONINAB 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



53 



Genus Damalis Fabricius 



Figubes 19, 423, 430, 823, 825, 832, 834, 835, 1648, 1649, 1650, 

 1652, 1882, 1923, 2003, 2034 



Damalis Fabricius, Systema antliatorum, p. 147, 1805. Type of 

 genus: Damalis planiceps Fabricius, 1805, at this time 

 proposed for the reasons given below. Westwood, 1835, 

 designated Damalis curvipes Fabricius, the first of 4 species, 

 which proved to be an empidid, as type of this genus. 



Xenomyza Wiedemann, Zool. Mag., vol. 1, p. 60, 1817. Type 

 of genus: Damalis planiceps Fabricius, 1805. Designated 

 by Coquillett, 1910, the first of 2 species. 



Chalcidimorpha Westwood, Ann. Soc. Ent. France, vol. 4, ser. 1, 

 p. 684, 1835. Type of genus: Chalcidimorpha fulvipes 

 Westwood, 1835. Designated by Macquart, 1838, the first 

 of 4 species. 



Damalis has two subgenera, Protodamalis, new sub- 

 genus, and Zygocolon, new subgenus. 



A peculiar situation arises with regard to the name to 

 be used for this group. Wiedemann examined the four 

 species included in the genus by Fabricius; the first 

 species, Damalis curvipes, and the third species, 



propose the continuance of the name Damalis in the 

 Asilidae, under the principle of conservation of names 

 wherever possible, with Damalis planiceps Fabricius, 

 1805, as type of genus. In further support of this 

 suggestion, I point to the well established names 

 Lasiodamalis Hermann, Lophurodamalis Hermann, 

 and Damalina Doleschall, all in the family Asilidae. 



Flies of medium size and of considerable variability, 

 with exceptionally short, wide head composed mostly 

 of the eyes and short face. The face is typically convex 

 and slightly protuberant on the lower half and this 

 lower part is bare and shining with 2, 3, or more pairs of 

 stout, epistomal bristles. The most characteristic fea- 

 ture is an antenna composed of 2 short, beadlike seg- 

 ments, the third segment being often even smaller but 

 carrying a long, slender, bristlelike, terminal style, as 

 long or longer than the proboscis. In addition, the 

 central eye facets are greatly enlarged, the mesonotum 

 unusually high and arched, the wing long and slender, 

 the veins at the base of the fourth posterior cell fused, 

 the anal vein closed and stalked. The wing is often con- 



Text-Figure 9.— Pattern of distribution of the genus 

 Damalis Fabricius. 



Damalis quadricincta, both from South America, he 

 found to be empidids; the second species, planiceps, 

 and the fourth species, my ops, he found to be asilids 

 and from India and Sumatra respectively. Wiede- 

 mann (1828, p. 415) ignored Xenomyza, treated the 

 two asilids under Damalis and assigned the two empi- 

 dids to the genus Hybos. 



Because the mass of literature has, with only one or 

 two exceptions, continued to treat these asilids under 

 the name Damalis, and because students of the Empi- 

 didae have uniformly rejected the name Damalis, I 



siderably longer than the abdomen. The hind femora 

 is a little swollen and usually has stout, ventral spines. 

 The genus Damalis contains a large Old World group 

 of plastic species, which show considerable structural 

 variability. This variability has been the basis of at 

 least 5 allied genera, some erected for a single species, 

 which should possibly rank as oidy subgenera. Much 

 of the variation centers around the leg characters and 

 the general proportions. The flies are relatively con- 

 stant in the short head, the large, greatly flattened eyes, 

 the type of antenna, the very high mesonotum and the 



