DASTPUGONINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



235 



Distribution : Neotropical : Phonicocleptes busiris 

 Lynch Arribalzaga (1881) ; langei Can-era (1947). 



Country unknown: Phonicocleptes spectans Walker 

 (1851). 



Genus Neodiogmites Carrera 



Figuees 156B, 541, 1068, 1077 



Neodiogmites Carrera, Arq. Zool. Sao Paulo, vol. 7, p. 85, 1949. 

 Type of genus : Dasypogon melanogastcr Wiedemann, 1821, 

 by original designation. 



Very large flies with rather robust yet elongate abdo- 

 men and reduced pile. These flies are similar to Diog- 

 mites Loew in most respects. The face tends to be of 

 less height, the ocellarium has 3 pairs of long, stout, 

 ocellar bristles and 4 or 5 pairs of shorter postocellar 

 bristles. There are numerous bristles on either side of 

 the front and there are tufts of appressed, matted, 

 rather long pile widely over the posterolateral corners 

 of the second, third and fourth tergites. First 4 ster- 

 nites also with long, coarse, bristly pile. Length 35 to 

 40 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect : The face is moderately well de- 

 veloped and of uniform length, of reduced height. The 

 occiput is poorly developed, a little more prominent 

 medially with deep ventral pockets on either side. The 

 bristles are quite stout and continue in 2 rows through- 

 out the entire occiput with additional postvertical 

 clusters. Proboscis similar to Diogmites and also with 

 a pair of divergent bristles ventrally at the middle. 

 Palpus large, of two segments, the second attached at 

 an angle and the first segment excavated; the apical 

 pore is small, the bristles of the second segment unusu- 

 ally stout. The antenna has 2 quite stout and several 

 shorter, more slender bristles ventrally upon the second 

 segment. First segment with a few weak bristles and 

 both segments with numerous, slender bristles dorsally. 



Head, anterior aspect: The head is unusually wide, 

 the eyes greatly flattened in front. The face is a little 

 less than a fourth the head width and slightly wider 

 below. The face is without pile and bears a single row 

 of very stout, long bristles above the epistoma which 

 contains 5 pairs and sometimes 1 or 2 additional 

 bristles. Subepistomal area unusually large, oblique 

 and concave. Front on each side with a tuft of numer- 

 ous, long, slender bristles and an additional row along 

 the eye margin. Vertex moderately excavated; the 

 ocellarium is large and bears numerous bristles. 



Thorax : The thorax is without pile except for fine, 

 loosely scattered setae situated for the most part an- 

 teriorly and laterally. There is an acrostical row of 

 bristles and dorsocentral elements are differentiated 

 opposite the notopleuron, each row containing 14 bris- 

 tles. The lateral complement of bristles consists of 4 

 anterohumeral, 1 posthumeral, 3 notopleural, 4 supra- 

 alar, 3 postalar, and 1 pair of scutellar. Mesopleuron 

 posteriorly and the sternopleuron with some bristly 

 hairs. Metapleuron with a double row of long, stout, 

 apically bent bristles and above a number of bristly 



hairs. Metanotal callosity micropubescent only. 

 Metasternum with bristly pile. Postmetacoxal area 

 membranous. Presternum dissociated. 



Legs : The legs are similar to the legs of Diogmites. 

 The protibial spine is stout and more or less sigmoid 

 and pointed, arising from a somewhat longer process 

 than in Diogmites; its basitarsus is plane and bears only 

 denticles. Claws very stout, rather sharp, the pulvilli 

 and flattened empodium fully developed. 



Wings : The wings are similar to Diogmites but the 

 apex of the marginal cell is distinctly more narrow. 



Abdomen : The abdomen differs from Diogmites only 

 in the long, matted pile on the sides of the second to 

 fourth tergites. First tergite with 7 pairs of long, stout 

 bristles. Females with acanthophorites and 4 pairs of 

 long, sharp, stout spines and 1 pair of much smaller, 

 slender, dorsal spines. Ventral plate without bowl- 

 shaped depression. 



Distribution: Neotropical: Neodiogmites melano- 

 gaster Wiedemann (1821) ; tenebrosus Carrera (1949). 



Genus Coniantella Curran 



Figuees 81, 469, 1085, 1094, 1745, 1S37 



Coniantella Curran, Canadian Ent., vol. 55, p. 93, 1923. Type 

 of genus : C'ophura fallci Back, 1909, as Cyrtopogon macu- 

 losus Coquillet, misidentified. See Melander, 1923. 



These are hump-backed flies of medium size and com- 

 pressed mesonotum, distinguished by the combination 

 of a mesonotal mane and a distinct, slender, sigmoid 

 spine at the apex of the protibia. The mesonotal mane 

 is occasionally met with in some species of Cyrtopogon 

 Loew and allied genera. Species of Comantella are 

 pilose flies, the face gibbous and densely bristly; the 

 antenna is attenuate and slender and the wings often 

 spotted. It should be noted that, as in several genera 

 that are possibly allied, the mesotibial spines at the 

 apex tend to curve backward. Length 10 to 15 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The head is long, accentuated 

 by the prominently produced and strongly gibbous face 

 and the well developed occiput. The face is rounded 

 and convex except for a short space beneath the 

 antenna. The occiput is tumid and prominent and 

 sublaterally slopes rather rapidly down to the eye 

 margin. It is more prominent below because of the 

 strong posteroventral recession of the eye, beginning 

 at the middle of the head. Occipital pile abundant, 

 long and rather coarse, and accompanied by bristles 

 which begin near the middle of the head and on the 

 middle of each half of the occiput; there are 12 to 

 15 pairs on each side. The proboscis is rather short 

 and stout, plane below, with the apex obliquely trun- 

 cate dorsally and a prominent medial carina. Palpus 

 clearly of two segments, the first hemicylindrical and 

 excavated, the second attenuate with bare apex, porate 

 and with bristly hairs over the middle and base. The 

 antenna is attached a little above the middle of the 

 head and is not quite as long as the maximal length of 

 the head, face included. First and second segments 



