DASVP0C0N1NAB 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



147 



minal bristles of the second antennal segment are 

 slightly darker in color and are almost reddish yellow. 

 Antenna black with the extreme base of the third seg- 

 ment dark reddish brown. 



Thorax : Mesonotum black with a rather dense coating 

 of pale brownish yellow pollen. The humerus is large 

 and light reddish brown in color and this color extends 

 medially in for a short distance along the posterior edge 

 of the pronotum. There is a wide band of similar, light 

 reddish brown also covered by pale pollen which begins 

 at the posterior suture and extends above the wing to 

 include the whole of the postalar callosity, the extreme 

 lateral base of the scutellum only, and which meets 

 narrowly in front of the scutellum on the posterior part 

 of the mesonotum. The anterior and posterior basalare, 

 and a spot on the pteropleuron immediately beneath the 

 wing, a small diffuse spot on the metanotum immediately 

 beneath the basolateral angle of the scutelluni also 

 reddish brown. Mesopleuron and whole of the humerus 

 with rather dense, long, coarse, bristly, yellow pile 

 which has a reddish tint to it and this pile is nearly 

 erect, and on the humerus is quite erect. Bristles of 

 mesonotum reddish golden in color. Anterior basalare 

 densely covered with long, coarse, pale pile. Posterior 

 basalare with short micropubescence only. Scutellum 

 black, thinly dusted with very minute micropubescence, 

 the discal and marginal bristles and pile entirely light 

 yellow. Pleuron black with thin brownish yellow 

 micropubescence and pollen. There is a small, reddish 

 spot on the upper part of the hypopleuron and the meta- 

 pleuron is narrowly bordered with reddish dorsally. 



Legs : The legs are shining dark sepia ; the tibiae are 

 very dark reddish sepia with the anterior half of these 

 tibia lighter reddish in color, and the dorsal half of the 

 hind tibia also lighter red. All tarsi rather light red- 

 dish brown, except the apical half of the last segment 

 which is blackish. Bristles and pile everywhere pale 

 brownish yellow to brownish white in color. Claws 

 black with the extreme base reddish brown. 



Wings: The wings are pale brownish hyaline, the 

 villi reddish brown. Subcosta and radial sector more 

 yellowish, the other veins brown. Halteres light orange 

 brown throughout. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is black, dully shining. All 

 of the tergites, except the last two, with conspicuous, 

 wide, posterior margins of pale brownish yellow which 

 are overlaid by dense, pale yellow pollen. While these 

 bands are not sharply delimited they are nevertheless 

 clear and distinct. Pile of the abdomen quite pale 

 yellowish to whitish in color. The last two tergites are 

 quite black and somewhat more shining. Last sternite 

 black, except that the apical, extensive, scooplike por- 

 tion is translucent brown. Spines of acanthophorites 

 black. Dorsal bristles of the proctiger brownish black. 

 Bristly setae on the whole of the last sternite 

 are blackish. 



Type : Female, Matopos, South Africa, March 1937. 

 Type in the Bhodesian National Museum. 



Genus Spanurus Loew 



Figubes 49, 492, 1016, 1027, 1872 



Spanurus Loew, Ofvers. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Forhandl., p. 350, 

 1858. Type of genus: Spanurus pulverulentus Loew, 1858, 

 by monotypy. 



Small or medium size flies, distinguished by the 

 rather long antenna ; the third segment is long, laterally 

 compressed and bears an apical microsegment. The 

 head is long with thick, tumid occiput and uniformly 

 short, densely, bristly pilose face. The thorax and ab- 

 domen are densely, long pilose. These flies are perhaps 

 related to Scylatlcus Loew. The vertex is almost en- 

 tirely unexcavated, a character shared by Ancylorrhyn- 

 chus Latreille ; however, they cannot be closely related 

 to that genus because Ancylorrhynchus has a radically 

 different type of proboscis. Length 8 to 11 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face is moderately devel- 

 oped and more or less of equal length throughout ; it is 

 very slightly more prominent below due to the recession 

 of the eye and not quite plane in profile. The eye is un- 

 usually long, strongly convex anteriorly and only some- 

 what less so posteriorly. The occiput is unusually thick 

 and prominent laterally as well as medially; the mar- 

 gins however are strongly convex and curved down to 

 the ej - e. Pile of the occiput dense but rather short 

 ventrally and for the most part set some distance from 

 the eye margin ; the pile becomes a little more stiff and 

 bristly hi character near the middle and on the upper 

 third a little longer; all these bristles remain compara- 

 tively weak and slender, and are situated in a wide, sub- 

 marginal band. All pile and bristles in the type of 

 genus and in other species known to me are entirely 

 pale yellowish. The proboscis is short, subcylindrical 

 but from dorsal aspect rather strongly tapered, widest 

 at the base. There is a low, inconspicuous, medial ridge 

 across the middle arising at the basal third; the apex 

 is bluntly rounded with abundant, fine, short hair 

 distally and ventrally. On the ventral surface the pile 

 is only found near the middle, where on either side are 

 2 or 3 long, slender bristles. Proboscis is directed ob- 

 liquely forward, slightly downward and distinctly ex- 

 tended beyond the face but shorter than the head. Pal- 

 pus clearly of two segments of nearly equal length. 

 The first segment is excavated and bears numerous, 

 long, stiff hairs ventrally ; the second segment is attenu- 

 ate both towards base and apex, and with a few long, 

 lateral, bristly hairs attached to the middle; second 

 segment apparently microporate. 



The antenna is attached at the upper sixth of the 

 head, moderately long and approximately of the same 

 length as the head. The first two segments are com- 

 paratively short, the first segment iy 2 times as long as 

 the second. The third segment is from iy 2 to 2 times 

 the combined length of the first two segments, and is 

 wide, rather strongly compressed laterally, widest 

 through the middle, slightly tapered towards the base 

 and apex and bearing apically a more narrow, short, at- 

 tenuate microsegment with apical spine. The first seg- 



