DASTPOGONINAB 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



G3 



nal segment Wings not broad, the fourth posterior cell termi- 

 nating behind in a single longitudinal vein arising from the 

 discal cell. 



Distribution : 

 Karsch (1887). 



Ethiopian : Discodamalis debilis 



Genus Icariomima Enderlein 



Icariomima Enderlein, Wiener Ent. Zeitung, vol. 33, p. 1G3, 1914. 

 Type of genus : Icariomima coeruleiventris Enderlein, 1914, 

 by original designation. 



The following is Enderlein's description in 

 translation : 



Distinguished from Damalis Fabricius, 1S05 by the following : 

 Abdomen very long and slender and the second segment very 

 strongly narrowed and prolonged (here about twice as long 

 as broad). In consequence the species has the appearance of 

 a wasp of the relationship of the wasp genus Icaria Saussure. 

 Antenna as in Damalis. Third antennal segment very small 

 with a strong, terminal bristle which is four to five times as 

 long as the segment itself ; likewise the posterior branch of the 

 sixth vein ends in the anal vein and the anterior branch of the 

 third vein is fused for a short distance with the posterior 

 branch of the fourth vein (discoidal cell). 



Distribution : Ethiopian : Icariomima coeruleiventris 

 Enderlein (1914). 



Apparently based chiefly on the petiolate abdomen ; 

 in Damalis in the wide sense, the abdomen is often elon- 

 gate; the wing venation does not appear to be unique, 

 as in Damalis, the posterior crossvein is often elimi- 

 nated with consequent fusion of adjacent veins. Dama- 

 lis Fabricius represents a very plastic group of flies of 

 highly variable form. 



Genus Holcocephala Jaennicke 



Figures 44, 55, 412, 839, 848, 1639, 1641, 2011, 2041, 2056 



Discocephala Macquart, Diptferes exotiques, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 50, 

 1838. Type of genus : Dasypogon abdominalis Say, 1823, 

 as Discocephala rufiventris Macquart, 1838. Designated by 

 Coquillett (1910). Preoccupied by Hemiptera, 1832. 



Holcocephala Jaennicke, Abhandl. Senckenberg. Naturf. Ges., 

 vol. 6, p. 359, 1867. Change of name. Hermann (1926) over- 

 looking Coquillett's prior (1910) designation, named Dasy- 

 pogon rtifithorax Wiedemann, 1828, as type of genus. 



Helcocephala Loew, Berliner Ent. Zeitschr., vol. 18, p. 377, 1874, 

 lapsus. 



Holocephala Williston, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc. vol. 18, p. 72, 

 1891, lapsus. 



has 



subgenus, Arthriticopus 



Holcocephala 

 Enderlein. 



Small, broad-winged, soft-bodied and weak-flying 

 species readily recognized by the wide, flattened head, 

 prominent eyes, and reduced face and vertex that give it 

 a goggle-eyed appearance. In addition, the mesonotum 

 is high and especially prominent anteriorly and bristles 

 are greatly reduced and pile almost restricted to dense 

 pubescence, so that the flies have a rather bare appear- 

 ance. Holcocephala Jaennicke has a 1-segmented an- 

 tennal style, with straight, apical bristle, a closed anal 

 cell with generally a quite long stalk or petiole and the 

 postmetacoxal metasternum is membranous in contrast 



535914— 62— pt. 1 6 



to Damalis Fabricius. There is a characteristic, 

 shallow, transverse groove lying a short distance above 

 the epistomal margin, which is absent in such Old World 

 genera as Damalina Doleschall and Rhipidocephala 

 Hermann. Length 4 to 8 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The head unusually short but 

 exceptionally broad. The face in profile is very short, 

 scarcely visible, the eye equally prominent above and 

 below. The medial facets are exceptionally enlarged. 

 The occiput is strongly excavated and flared dorsally 

 and in profile is scarcely visible either above or below ; 

 the occiput is densely pollinose with scattered, fine, 

 coarse, bristly hairs. Proboscis quite short and robust, 

 bluntly pointed and directed obliquely downward; it 

 has coarse bristly pile ventrally at the apex and similar 

 hairs at the base. Palpus elongate but exceptionally 

 slender, cylindroid with stiff apical bristles, and the 

 basal segment minute and short. Antenna attached a 

 little above the middle of the head, about as long as the 

 head or a little shorter; the first two segments quite 

 short and subequal, the third segment elongate, slender, 

 attenuate at the base and slightly at the apex, and 

 bearing a rather long, conical microsegment with apical 

 spine. 



Head, anterior aspect : The face densely micropubes- 

 cent with a few, fine, scattered hairs. The epistomal 

 margin is differentiated from the equally densely pubes- 

 cent subepistomal area by a crease and bears two or 

 three pairs of fine, long, bristly hairs. The front is 

 almost eliminated, so close to the antenna is the ocellar 

 protuberance. It is pubescent, not pilose, the ocellar 

 protuberance large, conspicuous, set well forward and 

 all the ocelli enlarged. 



Thorax: The thorax is characterized by a high, 

 prominent mesonotum, steeply arched posteriorly and 

 anteriorly, densely micropubescent and pollinose with 

 very little pile and no bristles. There is a double acros- 

 tical row and an incomplete dorsocentral row of short, 

 fine hairs. Scutellum thick and convex, pollinose, with 

 a few scattered discal hairs. Pleuron uniformly pol- 

 linose and micropubescent with a tuft of scattered pile 

 dorsally and posteriorly on the mesopleuron and long, 

 fine hairs on the metapleuron and the whole of the 

 propleuron. Metanotal callosity bare. Lateral met- 

 asternal slopes pilose posteriorly; they almost com- 

 pletely overlap and conceal the lateral margins of the 

 first tergite. Postmetacoxal area membranous. 



Legs : The hind femur to a slight extent and the hind 

 tibia to a marked extent tend to be dilated towards the 

 apex, with the corresponding basitarsus swollen. The 

 pile of the hind femur is appressed and set ate, with a 

 row of long, slender, erect, ventral bristles which tend 

 to be confined to the basal half; hind tibia with a brush 

 of coarse, bristly, suberect pile on lateral, medial and 

 ventral surfaces ; it has a long, slender, subapical, dor- 

 solateral bristle and similar dorsomedial bristle, besides 

 2 or 3 similar distal ventral bristles. Posterior basitar- 

 sus with a dense, erect brush of sensory pile. Anterior 

 and middle legs weak, their femora short and stout, 

 their tarsi and tibiae also short.. Both these femora 



