DASTPOGONINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



177 



it is rather thin but convex. Propleuron and meso- 

 pleuron with long, fine pile ; metapleuron with a verti- 

 cal band of long, delicate, crinkled pile. Hypopleuron 

 with a few, long, fine hairs; pteropleuron apilose. 

 Metanotal slopes micropubescent only,; lateral metaster- 

 num and the ventral metasternum with long, fine pile ; 

 postmetacoxal area membranous. Presternum dis- 

 sociated. 



Legs: The femora are stout without being swollen; 

 the tibiae and tarsi rather slender and weak, except the 

 hind pair. Bristles are rather poorly developed in the 

 type of genus but are apt to be long and slender, a 

 little thickened toward the base, attenuate apically and 

 more or less oblique. They are especially long poste- 

 riorly and posteroventrally on the tibiae. Anterior 

 tibia without spine. In some species the dorsal pile 

 of the femora is fine, fiat appressed and setate, and 

 there may be 2 moderately stout bristles dorsally and 

 subapically, 2 much finer, shorter ones at the apex; 

 ventrally the femora may have a very scanty fringe of 

 fine, erect pile of some 25 hairs and on the basal half 

 ventrally 3 long, slender, bristly hairs. The legs some- 

 times show well developed bristles. A typical com- 

 plement consists of : posterior tibia with 5 stout dorsal, 

 4 even longer, stout lateral and 3 long, stout ventral 

 bristles, the latter found chiefly on the distal half; 

 middle tibia with 4 short dorsal, 3 long, stout, anterior 

 bristles but with 7 much more slender posterior and 

 3 long, slender ventral bristles; anterior femur without 

 bristles and its tibia with 5 to 7 short, and weak, dorsal 

 bristles. The posterior bristles long and slender. All 

 tarsi end in short, sharp claws, well developed pulvilli 

 and rather short, basally swollen empodium. 



"Wings: The marginal cell is widely open; anterior 

 branch of the third vein ends at the wing apex; poste- 

 rior branch shortly behind. All the posterior cells 

 widely open ; anal cell closed in the type of genus with 

 a short stalk, but widely open in many species. The 

 anterior crossvein enters the discal cell at or just be- 

 yond the basal third. Alula relatively narrow; am- 

 bient vein complete. 



Abdomen: The abdomen is usually slightly more 

 narrow than the mesonotum and with nearly parallel 

 sides or gently tapering sides, the tergites rather convex. 

 The pile is rather short, fine and subappressed across 

 the middles of the tergites, becoming distinctly longer 

 and more prominent laterally, and often quite long and 

 prominent on the sides of the first 3 tergites. The 

 sternites characteristically have long, dense, shaggy 

 pile. Male with eight tergites, the eighth one-half 

 as long as the seventh ; female with eight tergites, the 

 seventh and eighth each reduced to about two-thirds 

 of the length of the sixth. Male terminalia rather 

 short and partly rotate. The epandrium is not cleft 

 or notched but is very broad. The gonopod bears a 

 characteristic apical, inwardly curved, slender arm 

 with bristles on its tip; it appears to be largely fused 

 dorsally to the epandrium but also has an anterior, 

 dorsal, upwardly thrust, slender process. Hypand- 

 rium short and obtuse and distinct. Female termi- 



nalia with 4 or 5 pairs of minute, short, inconspicuous, 

 apically rounded spines. 



Holopogon has a pattern of distribution very simi- 

 lar to that of Heteropogon Loew and Cyrtopogon 

 Loew. There are more species in Europe than in 

 North America. 



Distribution : Nearctic : Holopogan albipilosus Cur- 

 ran (1923) ; fappendiculatus Bigot (1878) ; atrifrons 

 Cole (1924) ; atripennis Back (1909) ; guttula Wiede- 

 mann (1821) [=philadelphicus Schiner (1867)]; ni- 

 tidiventris Bigot (1878); phaeonotus Loew (1874); 

 seniculus Loew (1866) ; snowi Back (1909) ; tibialis 

 Curran (1923). 



Neotropical: Holopogon bullatus Wulp (1882) ; de- 

 jectus Williston (1901); pulcher Williston (1901); 

 tener Bigot (1878) ; violaceus Williston (1901). 



Palaearctic: Holopogon albosetosus Schiner (1867) 

 [ = digrammits Loew (1871)] ; auribarbis Meigen (1820) ; 

 binotatus Loew (1870) ; brunnipes Meigen (1820) 

 [=pallipes Megerle (Ms.) in Meigen (1820)] ;clari- 

 pennis Loew (1856); dichromatopus Bezzi (1926); 

 dimidiata Meigen (1820) [ = dimidipennis Megerle 

 (ms.) in Meigen, fuscipennis Meigen (1820), timi- 

 dus Loew (1847)]; dusmetii Strobl in Czerny and 

 Strobl (1909) ; flavescens Jaennicke (1867) ; flavotibial- 

 is Strobl (1909); fumipennis Meigen (1820) [=albi- 

 pilus Meigen (1820)]; imbecillus Loew (1870) ; mela- 

 leucus Meigen (1820); melas Dufour (1S50) ; nigri- 

 facies Bezzi (1900) [= fumipennis Bezzi (1899) not 

 Meigen]; nigripennis Meigen (1820) \=\minutus 

 Schrank (1803)], nigripennis nobilis Loew male 

 (1869); nitidus Macquart (1849); priscus Meigen 

 (1820) [=claviger~Loev? (1871), cUvipes Loew (1840), 

 hyalipennis Megerle (ms.) in Meigen, laniger 

 Zetterstedt (1840) not Meigen]; pusillus Macquart 

 (1838); rugiventris Strobl (1906); siculus Macquart 

 (1834); strandi Duda (1940); venustus Peter Rossi 

 (1790) [=iris Meigen (1804), minutus Fabricius 

 (1794)]. 



Ethiopian : Holopogon fugax Loew (1S60) . 



Frauenfield (1866), Brauer (1883), Mik ( 1885) treat 

 immature stages of Holopogon fumipennis and 

 nigripennis. 



Subgenus Dasyholopogon Martin 



Dasyholopogon Martin, Amer. Mus. Nov., no. 1980, p. 34, 1959. 

 Type of subgenus : Holopogon umorinus Back, 1909, by 

 original designation. 



The following description is from Martin: 



In general, the three species placed in this subgenus are more 

 shaggy in appearance than most specimens of Holopogon. Also, 

 the lack of bristles laterally before the transverse suture on the 

 thorax and the long, dense hair on the ventral surfaces of the 

 posterior abdominal sternites separate the subgenus Dasyholo- 

 pogon from Holopogon. The male genitalia closely resemble 

 those of Holopogon, so that beyond doubt Dasypholopogon is very 

 closely related. The species belonging to Dasyholopogon are 

 found in California, Oregon, and Idaho. 



Distribution: Nearctic: Dasyholopogon caesariatus 

 Martin (1959) ; crinitus Martin (1959) ; umbrinus Back 

 (1909). 



