DASTP000NIN4E 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



101 



present : on notopleuron 1 stout, flat, appressed, mod- 

 erately long bristle; supraalar with only 7 or 8 short, 

 very weak bristly haii-s ; postalar with 2 or 3 short, weak 

 bristles. Scutellar margin apparently with no bristles 

 but with a few short, backwardly curved hairs; scu- 

 te! lum thick and convex, with a faintly impressed rim. 

 Propleuron with abundant, long, stiff pile ventrally, 

 the dorsal collar with a wide band of similar bristly pile 

 and posterolaterally with long, stiff, bristly pile. The 

 upper and posterior mesopleuron has abundant, long, 

 stiff pile; sternopleuron, pteropleuron are apilose; the 

 posthypopleuron has a patch of long, stiff hail's ; meta- 

 pleuron convex with a vertical band of long, slender 

 bristles, each of which apically becomes a fine, kinked 

 hair; metanotal slopes micropubescent only; lateral 

 metasternum and the ventral metasternum with abun- 

 dant, long pile; postmetacoxal area membranous; 

 tegulae micropubescent only. 



Legs: The hind femur is distinctly though moder- 

 ately thickened; it is slightly and gently narrowed to- 

 ward the base and close to the apex and bears ventrally 

 a row of 6 quite short, but very stout, tuberculate spines. 

 This femur has 1 short bristle laterally at apex, none 

 dorsally ; its ventromedial margin has a dense band of 

 rather short but erect, fine pile. At the base medially 

 there are 3 quite long, slender hairs. The hind tibia 

 is distinctly stout, slightly narrower towards the base 

 and bears a dense, ventral band of fine, erect, modified 

 pile extending from the base quite to the apex. It also 

 bears 4 weak, short dorsal bristles; and further this 

 tibia bears 2 distal, appressed, lateral bristles and 3 

 distal, appressed, ventrolateral bristles; apex with mod- 

 erately long, stout bristles, including 2 lateral, 1 or 2 

 dorsal, 3 medial and 3 or 4 ventral bristles. Hind 

 basitarsus and the next segment stout. Middle femur 

 with 2 very stout, ventral, short bristles in the middle 

 and near the base are some long, fine hairs, becoming 

 shorter distally, besides 1 anterior, stout bristle at the 

 basal third. Its tibia has 3 moderately long, postero- 

 ventral, 3 short dorsal and 3 or 4 short, anterior bristles, 

 all strongly appressed. Apex with 9 bristles. Anterior 

 femur also stout, with a row of weak, microtuberculate, 

 moderately long, ventral, slender bristles ; its tibia has 

 dense, appressed, short pile and moderately long, quite 

 stout bristles, 3 of these posteriorly, its apex with 9 very 

 stout bristles. The tarsus is rough and micronodulate 

 above. Claws sharp; pulvilli large; em podium stout 

 basally. 



Wings : The wings are relatively broad and are hya- 

 line or at most slightly tinged with brown. The mar- 

 ginal cell is closed in the genotype species and has a 

 short petiole. Also the end of the marginal cell is 

 bluntly rounded and obtuse. The first posterior cell is 

 closed with a short stalk. The illustration of the wing 

 in this work was taken from a female type specimen in 

 the Hermann collection. The wing of Achrochordo- 

 merus engeli Efflatoun differs in all three particulars 

 mentioned above and it is much more like the wing of 

 Hoplotriclis Hermann, to which it may prove to belong. 



Abdomen: The abdomen is robust, gently convex 

 across each tergite, fully as wide as thorax. Six tergites 

 in the female, the first five of nearly equal length, the 

 fourth and fifth slightly longer, the sixth obtusely tri- 

 angular. Sides of first tergite with a few, rather short, 

 stiff hairs, the remaining pile of the abdomen exceed- 

 ingly short though abundant; the marginal pile little 

 longer. Tergal bristles absent, the immediate lateral 

 margins are curled down. Female terminalia very 

 short, with long, dense pile, slightly protrusive and 

 visible in lateral profile. A female type from the Her- 

 mann collection was studied. No males were studied. 



Distribution : Palaearctic : Acrochordomerus aeneus 

 Hermann (1920) ; engeli Efflatoun (1937). 



Genus Apoxyria Schiner 



Figures 35, 454, 859, 868, 1563, 1679 



Apoxyria Schiner, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, vol. 16, p. 674, 

 1866. Type of genus: Apoxyria apicata Schiner, 1866, by 

 original designation. 



Medium size flies, characterized by the strong ventral 

 bulblike terminalia of the male, the open margin of the 

 first posterior cell, the strongly gibbose face, swollen 

 posterior femora and the swollen and curved hind tibia. 

 The short cylindrical or slightly compressed proboscis 

 has a truncate apex and is directed horizontally for- 

 ward. From Helolaphyctis Hermann it is distin- 

 guished by the arched and thickened hind femur and 

 the fine, long, bristly, erect pile of the mesonotum, the 

 strongly and basally attenuate third antennal segment, 

 and the absence of stout bristles on the ocellarium. 

 Length 11 mm., including antennae. 



Head, lateral aspect : The length of the head is two- 

 thirds its height. The eye is strongly convex anteri- 

 orly and strongly recessive anteroventrally beginning 

 at the lower sixth. The occiput is thick medially ; its 

 pile is abundant, long and fine, the ends are crinkled 

 and it is replaced dorsally by a wide band of slender 

 proclinate bristles. The proboscis is short but extends 

 horizontally forward, distinctly beyond the face; it is 

 slightly compressed laterally with nearly parallel sides 

 in profile, the apex truncate, bearing a single lateral 

 row of apical bristly hairs. The basal half is a little 

 swollen laterally and bears numerous, long, fine hairs ; 

 dorsal ridge absent. Palpus slender, the basal segment 

 short, partly fused medially, hemicylindrical and ex- 

 cavated. Second segment with numerous, long, slen- 

 der, bristly hairs and apparently microporate. The 

 antenna is attached at the upper third of the head, 

 moderately elongate, the first segment as long as the 

 second but distinctly swollen and robust. Second seg- 

 ment attenuate basally with swollen beadlike apex. 

 The third segment is one-third longer than the com- 

 bined length of the first two, rather strongly attenuate 

 on the basal half, the apex a little narrowed, especially 

 from the dorsal aspect. The first segment has nu- 

 merous long, slender bristles ventrally and laterally, at 

 least 2 of which are as long as the third segment and 



