DASYPOGONINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



165 



uously and densely beset with long, coarse, stubby 

 bristles on the lower surface and shorter bristles dor- 

 sally; second segment with only a few setae. 



Head, anterior aspect : Sides of the face on the lower 

 half with numerous, short, stiff hairs extending to the 

 eye margin and continued more scantily but sublater- 

 ally on the upper portion of the gibbosity. Swollen 

 part of the face from the base above to the epistomal 

 margin with quite numerous, rather stout, moderately 

 long, white bristles. The longer elements extend a little 

 beyond the proboscis and are rather evenly distributed 

 over the whole face and are intermixed with those 

 which are shorter. Epistoma large but only slightly 

 oblique, concave and bare. Sides of the front with 3 

 quite long, very stout bristles,which are directed for- 

 ward and 2 other bristles above, more or less directed 

 upward. The ocellar protuberance is broad and low 

 and has 16 to 18 strong, moderately long bristles. The 

 anterior eye facets strongly enlarged. 



Thorax: The mesonotum only moderately high, 

 rather gently convex in front; it has a sparse row of 

 short acrostical bristles and an irregular band of numer- 

 ous dorsocentral bristles which are also quite short and 

 fine ; these are replaced by long, slender, black bristles 

 in the prescutellar area, 3 or 4 on each side. Mesonotum 

 with stout bristles as follows: 2 notopleural, 2 post- 

 humeral, 4 humeral, 4 supraalar, 7 or 8 postalar bristles. 

 Scutellar margin with 6 to 9 pairs of long, brownish 

 yellow bristles. Lateral slopes of metanotum with 

 abundant, yellowish white pile; mesopleuron pilose, ex- 

 cept anteriorly; pteropleuron micropubescent only; 

 hypopleuron with some pile ; metapleuron with a wide 

 band of weak, moderately long, yellowish white, bristly 

 hairs. Lateral metasternal slopes thickly pilose; post- 

 coxal area membranous. 



Legs: The hind femur is stout, and somewhat longer 

 than the middle pair; it has short, appressed pile and 

 a band of abundant, long, fine, pale, ventral pile, to- 

 gether with short, weak, brownish yellow bristles, 3 in 

 an oblique row. These bristles consist of 3 dorsomedial 

 elements at apex, 4 ventrally and laterally from base to 

 the outer third, and with 1 weak lateral bristle at the 

 outer third, another at the basal third. Tibia slender, 

 with long, brownish white bristles : a double dorsal row ; 

 6 anterodorsal and 5 dorsomedial bristles. It also has 

 2 ventral anterior bristles near the apex, 1 dorsoapical, 

 and 5 on the ventral half at the apex. Middle femur 

 stout with 2 pale bristles anteriorly at basal and middle 

 third, 2 ventrally on the basal half and in addition a 

 slightly shorter, ventral, basal cluster of 10 bristles. 

 Tibia with long, slender, reddish to black bristles; 1 

 anteriorly at the basal fifth, 6 or 7 in an anterodorsal 

 row, 8 in a posterodorsal row which are a little shorter, 

 and 5 ventrally. Anterior femur with dense, yellowish, 

 suberect pile and 3 bristles ventrally on the basal half. 

 Anterior tibia with a conspicuous, double dorsal row 

 of moderately long, oblique, black bristles, 12 in each 

 row, and a posteroventral row of 4 long, oblique, 

 brownish yellow bristles. Apex without spine. Tarsi 

 end in long, thin, spatulate, subtruncate pulvilli and 



sharp claws, and a very stout, long, curved, strongly 

 flattened empodium. 



Wings : The wings are almost identical with those of 

 Neodysmachus Ricardo; both these genera differ from 

 Microstylum in the broad junction of the second pos- 

 terior cell with the discal cell and the comparatively 

 moderate expansion in width of the base of the second 

 posterior cell. Fourth posterior cell closed with a short 

 stalk ; anal cell closed in the margin. Alula well devel- 

 oped; ambient vein complete. The wing is wide basally 

 whereas Neodysmachus is not wide in the wing. 



Abdomen: The abdomen at the base is nearly or 

 quite as broad as the mesonotum; it is rather strongly 

 tapered and distinctly flattened over the middles of the 

 first three tergites; first tergite with a postmarginal, 

 medially divided, laterally appressed tuft of long, 

 brownish white pile. Second tergite with a basal and 

 posterior pair of such banded tufts but succeeding ter- 

 gites with only posterior bands. Lateral pile of the 

 first tergite stiff but scarcely bristly or perhaps 4 or 5 

 of these elements might be called bristles; no bristles 

 on succeeding tergites. Males with seven tergites, and 

 with an eighth tergite very short and barely visible 

 above. Female with eight tergites, the eighth is from 

 a half to three-fourths as long as the seventh and the 

 pile on the sixth and seventh is turned backward. 

 Sternites with long, fine pile on the second and third; 

 the first sternite appears to be reduced to an extremely 

 short, narrow, chitinized ridge. Male terminalia large 

 and similar to Microstylum. Female terminalia short, 

 cylindrical, bearing 5 pairs of wide, apically rounded, 

 scooplike spines; these terminalia also have a distinct 

 row of bristly hairs or slender bristles. 



Distribution: Ethiopian: Oratostylum lepidum Ri- 

 cardo (1925). 



Genus Neodysmachus Ricardo 



Figures 115, 169, 488, 1054, 1063 



Neodysmachus Ricardo, Ann . Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, vol. 15, 

 p. 262, 1925. Type of genus : Neodysmachus setithoracicus 

 Ricardo, 1925, by original designation. 



Medium size flies related to Daspletis Loew but with 

 more slender form, fewer mesonotal bristles, less pro- 

 nounced shaggy pile upon the male coxa and femur 

 and tibia. Moreover, the first posterior cell is widely 

 open instead of closed. Length 16 to 18 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face has a moderately 

 prominent gibbosity on the lower three-fourths; the 

 upper one- fourth is quite short. The eye is compara- 

 tively short but high, strongly recessive anteroven- 

 trally beginning at or just below the middle; the 

 anterior profile is slightly flattened across the middle 

 but otherwise convex and the upper half of the posterior 

 profile is strongly convex. The occiput is only moder- 

 ately thick and is obliterated on the upper sixth. Pile 

 of occiput dense, rather short in the middle, and be- 

 coming long, bushy and conspicuous below; it is curled 

 and opaque in color; mixed with the pile in the mid- 

 dle are 8 or 9 pairs of bristles and more numerous, 



