DASYPOGONINAE 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 224 



239 



Distribution: Neotropical: Lastaurus anthracinus 

 Loew (1851); bombimorpha Rondani (1850); fallax 

 Macquart (1846) ; fenestratus Bigot (1878) ; lugubris 

 Macquart (1846) ; mallophoroides Walker (1851) ; 

 mutabilis Loew (1851) ; transient Walker (1849) ; ro- 

 bustus Carrera (1949). 



Oriental: Lastaurus flavipellitus Enderlein (1914). 



Lastaurus -flavipellitus probably does not belong here. 



Genus Lastaurina Curran 



Figures 544, 1070, 1079 



Lastaurina Curran, American Mus. Novitates, no. 806, p. 5, 

 1935. Type of genus: Dasypogon ardens Wiedemann, 1828, 

 by original designation. 



Large flies with dense, shaggy pile; distinguished 

 from Lastaurus Loew by the face being gently convex 

 and covered throughout its full length with long, slen- 

 der bristles or bristly pile. Moreover, the mesonotum 

 and abdomen are long and densely pilose. Length 

 20 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The head is rather long, the 

 face moderately prominent and retreating to some ex- 

 tent immediately below the antenna. The occiput is 

 prominent, except at the immediate vertex. The eye is 

 posteroventrally recessive, but is broadly and gradually 

 rounded and nowhere angular. Occipital pile dense, 

 and composed of long, bristly hairs or slender bristles 

 which become a little stouter on the upper half. Nearly 

 all are set back from the eye margin, except at the bot- 

 tom and the top of the eye, and the bristly pile is con- 

 tinued across the postvertex. Proboscis conspicuous, 

 long, laterally compressed, slightly arched and there- 

 fore concave below ; it is strongly attenuate and pointed 

 and very similar to Lastaurus, with a strong basal 

 carina. Palpus clearly of two segments, the first seg- 

 ment excavated, the second quite short and robust, 

 microporate, with coarse pile on all sides and a ventro- 

 apical tuft of 8 or more stout bristles. First segment 

 with numerous, long, bristly hairs. The antenna is at- 

 tached at the upper fourth of the head, elongate, rather 

 slender, about the same length as the head. The first 

 two segments are long, subequal, with several bristly 

 hairs ventrally and laterally. The second segment has 

 1 or 2 very stout, long, apical bristles. The third seg- 

 ment is of nearly uniform width, slightly wider dis- 

 tally, \y<i to 2 times as long as the first two segments, 

 and has a large, oblique, dorsal, spoon-shaped opening 

 and spine. 



Head, anterior aspect : The head is wide, though not 

 wider than the thorax. The face is quite wide, about 

 one-third the head width and slightly wider below. 

 Face pubescent, densely covered with uniformly dense, 

 long, slender bristles or bristly pile. Front short, 

 sunken in the middle with a dense, lateral patch of long, 

 bristly pile. Vertex at most moderately excavated, the 

 ocellarium large with vertical sides and bearing be- 

 tween the ocelli 1 long, stout and 1 weak bristle and the 



same number and type of bristles between the posterior 

 ocelli. Anterior eye facets moderately enlarged. 



Thorax : The thorax is dull and pollinose, densely 

 long, coarsely pilose with a bare stripe in the middle 

 of each side posteriorly. There is a wide, poorly differ- 

 entiated acrostical band of pile. The dorsocentral ele- 

 ments are differentiated only behind the humerus, where 

 they become very strong, with 10 long pairs. Humerus 

 only with dense, long pile. The lateral complement of 

 very long, stout bristles as follows: 1 posthumeral, 2 

 notopleural, 5 supraalar, 5 postalar, and 2 pairs of 

 bristles on the scutellum. The scutellar margin with 

 pile, the disc pollinose only. Pleuron without bristles 

 but with much long, coarse, dense pile over the whole 

 propleuron, cervical sclerite, dorsal surface and pos- 

 terior half of the mesopleuron, a large oval patch on 

 the upper sternopleuron and a wide, large, oval patch 

 on the metapleuron. Metasternum pilose laterally and 

 ventrally. Postmetacoxal area membranous. Tegula 

 with short bristles, the basalares pollinose only. 

 Prosternum dissociated. 



Legs: The legs are quite stout without being swollen. 

 All bristles of the legs very stout; few bristles on the 

 femora. Pile of the legs is abundant and subappressed. 

 Hind femur with 1 lateral bristle on the basal third, 

 a transverse cluster of 3 subdorsally on each side at 

 apex. Middle and anterior femora similar, these apical 

 bristles a little more slender. The middle femur has a 

 stout, lateral bristle at the apical sixth, 1 anteriorly at 

 the apical third. The anterior femur with 2 posteriorly, 

 1 at the middle, and 1 beyond. Hind tibia with 4 dorsal, 

 8 lateral, 6 anteroventral ; the apex has 8 bristles. Mid- 

 dle tibia with 6 or 7 dorsal, 10 posterior, 2 very long, 

 posteroventral on the outer half and 10 quite long, 

 anterior bristles, besides a few smaller ventral bristles, 

 especially at the base. Anterior femur similar with 

 7 or 8 bristles in the anterior and posterior dorsal rows : 

 it has a like number in the posterior row, and 2 in the 

 posteroventral row. Apex with a short process and a 

 stout sigmoid spine; the basitarsus with a patch of 

 denticles. Claws sharp; the slender pulvilli long; the 

 empodium bladelike. 



Wings: The marginal cell is open; anterior branch 

 of the third vein ends well above the wing apex; 

 posterior branch far behind. First posterior cell a little 

 narrowed; fourth closed and stalked; anal cell nar- 

 rowly closed or open. Alula large; the ambient vein 

 complete. 



Abdomen: The abdomen is robust, perhaps less ro- 

 bust than that of Lastaurus. At the base it is no wider 

 than the mesonotum, the sides a little tapered. Pile 

 dense, long, coarse and shaggy, appressed medially on 

 the basal tergites. In the male seven tergites with a lip- 

 like trace of the eighth tergite. No bristles on the first 

 tergite. Male terminalia rotate at least one-fourth, the 

 epandrium short, and cleft to the base and widely diver- 

 gent from the base with large, long proctiger. The 

 gonopod is short but prominent and convex and bears 2 

 pairs of stout, blunt, elongate, posterior processes and 1 

 or 2 pairs of interior, recessed, slender processes. The 



