DABYfOGONINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



97 



lateral, 2 stout lateral bristles, 1 at base and 1 beyond 

 the middle, 4 slender, ventral bristles; apex with 2 dor- 

 sal, 1 lateral, 2 medial and 2 or 3 ventral bristles. 

 Ventrally this tibia bears a dense, erect, moderately 

 long fringe begimiing just before the middle and be- 

 coming shorter apically. Midfemur with 2 or 3 stout 

 bristles dorsally near the apex, its tibia with 4 long, 

 stout anterodorsal, 3 or 4 dorsal, and 1 stout, long, an- 

 terior basal, 3 or 4 weak posterior, 5 stout long postero- 

 ventral, and 3 or 4 ventral bristles. Anterior femur 

 with a stout, long, posterodorsal subapical bristle and 

 with a double, dorsal row of 5 or 6 bristles, 4 posterior, 

 3 or 4 long posteroventral, and an apical circlet of 8 

 bristles and no spine. Tarsi end with long, fuzzy 

 pulvilli, unusually stout, a long, basally swollen em- 

 podium, and long anterior, moderately sharp claws 

 chiefly bent at apex ; the posterior claws are especially 

 stout, strongly convex, and somewhat blunt. 



Wings : The wings are broad. The marginal cell is 

 closed in the margin, with bulbous apex; the anterior 

 branch of the third vein makes a strong, almost rec- 

 tangular bend and ends well before the apex; first pos- 

 terior cell closed and stalked; fourth cell closed with a 

 stalk; anal cell closed; the second basal cell ends in 3 

 veins. Alula large, ambient vein absent. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is robust, with nearly paral- 

 lel sides to the end of the fourth segment, and slightly 

 convex ; as long as the wings ; the first tergite unswol- 

 len ; the pile scanty, short, appressed setate and arising 

 from distinct punctures. Stout bristles are present on 

 all tergites, 3 pairs on the sides of the first tergite and 

 2 pairs on others. Males with 6 tergites only ; females 

 with 6 well developed tergites and a quite linear trace 

 of the seventh and eighth, each tucked beneath the apex 

 of the sixth. Male terminalia moderately conspicuous 

 with one-fourth to almost complete rotation. Epan- 

 drium large, convex and wide at base, transverse at 

 apex and unclef t or unnotched. What appears to be the 

 gonopod is large, each gonopod meeting and apposed 

 below, so that the whole is as large and as convex and 

 bowl-shaped ventrally as the epandrium. The hypan- 

 drium is not in evidence externally and may be reduced 

 or absent. 



Distribution: Palaearctic: Trichardis cinctellus 

 Seguy (1934) ; leucocomus Wulp (1899) [=albipila 

 Becker (1907)]. 



Ethiopian: Trichardis cribratus Loew (1857) ; gri- 

 sescens Engel (1924) ; nigrescens Ricardo (1903) ; picta 

 Hermann (1906) ; testacea Hermann (1906). 



Genus Trichardopsis Oldroyd 



Trichardopsis Oldroyd, Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk., no. 9, p. 4, 

 1958. Type of genus : Trichardopsis richteri Oldroyd, 1958, 

 by original designation. 



The following description is from Oldroyd : 



The present collection contains a single female of the Laphy- 

 stiiui that I am not able to refer to any existing genus. It 

 resembles Trichardis in having the hind femora swollen (though 

 only moderately), with a row of ventral spines, and the hind 



tibiae bowed. The antennal style, with its dorsal pit and 

 spine, is more like that of Hoplistomerus than Trichardis. From 

 both these genera Trichardopsis is immediately distinguished 

 by the venation (figs. 2-6). From Gerrolasius, which has simi- 

 lar venation, Trichardopsis is distinguished by the presence of 

 ventral spines on the hind femora, and the absence of scutellar 

 bristles. 



Head: Broader than high, with face two-thirds as broad as 

 one eye, and not at all prominent in profile. Mystax reduced 

 to one or two bristles and a few silky hairs close to mouth- 

 margin, with only sparse hairs above. Antennae as in fig. 4, 

 about as long as height of head, with a pointed style which 

 bears a dorsal pit and bristle. Palpi small, cylindrical; pro- 

 boscis short. Occiput with fine hairs only. 



Thorax and abdomen without special features. Bristles are 

 pale and very weak, but lateral patches on mesonotum and 

 discal bristles at sides of abdomen can be detected; there are 

 no scutellar bristles. Both thorax and abdomen clothed with 

 rather long, fine hairs. 



Legs. All femora fairly stout ; hind femora moderately swol- 

 len (fig. 6), with an antero-ventral row of stout spines; hind 

 tibiae bowed, and also moderately swollen, with an anterodorsal 

 row of longer spines. All tarsi normal, though first segment is 

 quite short on all legs. Claws well-developed ; pulvilli present, 

 but rather short and narrow. 



Wings : Only fourth posterior and anal cells closed ; marginal 

 and first posterior cells open. Figs. 2, 3 show the difference In 

 venation between Trichardopsis and Trichardis; in the latter 

 the first posterior cell Is closed and stalked, and veins R 2 +, and 

 R» are strongly sinuate. 



Distribution : Palaearctic : 

 Oldroyd ( 1958) . From Iran. 



Trichardopsis richteri 



Genus Triclioscelis Roeder 



Figures 41, 427, 893, 902, 1670, 1683, 1689, 1914, 1976 



Triclioscelis Roeder, Stettiner Ent. Zeitung, vol. 51, p. 337, 1900. 

 Type of genus: Triclioscelis burmeisteri Roeder, 1900, by 

 designation of Herman, 1920. 



These flies are near medium size, very robust, with 

 massive, tuberculate hind femur and with minute short 

 appressed pile and with bristles almost absent. Related 

 to Hoplistomerus Macquart and separated by the short 

 antenna, the third segment with apical microsegment 

 and spine, and also separated by the very short tarsal 

 segments, and the open marginal cell. Length 10 to 12 

 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face is barely visible in 

 profile on the upper half, the lower portion extended as 

 a low triangle and the face plane from epistorna to 

 antenna. The eye is prominent below anteriorly, 

 slightly more narrow above, a little recessive anteroven- 

 trally; its anterior profile is strongly convex, its pos- 

 terior profile very shallowly convex and almost straight 

 through the middle. The occiput is visible only on the 

 lower third and narrowly near the middle ; it is rather 

 prominent at the lower corner. The pile of the occiput 

 is scanty, fine, long and deeply medial; it is more 

 abundant ventrally and bristles begin at the upper 

 third, where there are 7 pairs of short, stout, sharp, pale 

 bristles. The proboscis is short and unusually stout, 

 strongly swollen at the base, laterally compressed and 

 without dorsomedial ridge; the apex is obtuse and 

 truncate and bears considerable stiff pile. Base with 



