DASVPOGONINAB 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



245 



Genus Neosaropogon Ricardo 



Figubes 95, 467, 1586, 1697, 1771 



Neosaropogon Ricardo, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist, ser. 8, vol. 9, p. 

 591, 1912. Type of genus : Dasypogon princeps Macquart, 

 1848. Designated by Malloen, 1928, the first of 3 species. 



Neosaropogon has one subgenus, Lycotherates, new 

 subgenus. 



Large flies with rather elongate, slightly clavate ab- 

 domen. These flies tend toward pale legs with consid- 

 erable, pale or yellowish color on the abdomen, the sides 

 of the mesonotum and on the antenna. They are rela- 

 tively bare with scanty, scattered, setate pile and short 

 bristles. The legs are elongate. Protibia with a long 

 protuberance and strong, curved, pronglike spine abut- 

 ting against a basitarsal protuberance; the palpus like- 

 wise is characteristic, the first segment quite short, the 

 second segment distinctively slender, long, attenuate 

 and tapered, the apex not bristly. These characters 

 are shared by Neocyrtopocjon Ricardo, which has the 

 face prominent and distinctly rounded and convex. 

 Length 18 to 28 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face is quite short across 

 the middle and slightly more prominent beneath the 

 antenna and distinctly more prominent on the lower 

 portion, which is extended triangularly forward oppo- 

 site the lower eye corners. Whole face very slightly 

 concave. Occiput strongly developed medially, sloping 

 gently to the eye margin; on the lower half it bears 

 considerable coarse pile; slender bristles start in the 

 middle and are situated in several rows and become 

 more stout dorsally. The proboscis is short, scarcely 

 extending beyond the face. Distally it is compressed 

 laterally with bhmt apex. It bears bristly pile at apex 

 and below and with a diagonal band of slender, bristly 

 hairs near the middle and other ventral hairs extending 

 from the swollen base. Palpus characteristic with quite 

 short, excavated, basal segment and long, unusually 

 slender and attenuate, microporate, second segment 

 which bears a number of slender bristles along the mid- 

 dle and medially near the apex but none at the apex. 

 The antenna situated at the upper fifth of the head, 

 first two segments of equal length and each 1% times 

 as long as wide. The first segment has only lateral and 

 dorsal, slender bristles, the second segment has setae 

 above, 2 below, and 1 ventral bristle at the apex. Third 

 segment at the base as wide as the second segment, long, 

 slightly tapered beginning at the basal third. The 

 apex bears a small, semifused, spoon-shaped microseg- 

 ment with exposed spine. 



Head, anterior aspect : The head is not quite twice as 

 wide as high, the face is wide, almost a third the head 

 width and slightly wider below. It bears dense, golden, 

 appressed micropubescence without pile and bears just 

 above the epistoma a curved, transverse row of 10 quite 

 stout, spinous bristles of no great length. Front barely 

 wider than the upper face, the vertex slightly narrowed. 

 The front is bare, wrinkled, with a longitudinal crease 

 on each side and continued backward. Eye margins 



with coarse, bristly pile. The front is rather short, the 

 vertex is moderately excavated, the ocellarium large, 

 obtuse with vertical sides and it is set rather far back- 

 ward. On each side it bears 3 or 4 slender bristles. 

 The eye rises considerably above the front and the an- 

 tenna is actually attached at a level almost equal to the 

 vertex. Eye strongly flattened in the front, the facets 

 not greatly enlarged. 



Thorax : The thorax is large and high, the mesonotum 

 of moderate height but only slightly convex except 

 anteriorly and posteriorly where it is rather abrupt. 

 The pile is scanty and bristly, with a wide, bare, medial 

 area containing only 3 or 4 acrostical hairs. Dorso- 

 central setae are differentiated in the middle of the 

 mesonotum and behind the suture form a row of 6 or 7 

 somewhat longer, slender bristles with a rounded patch 

 of setae on each side in front of the scutellum. Lateral 

 bristles prominent and rather long. There are 2 hu- 

 meral, 3 notopleural, 2 or 3 supraalar, 2 or 3 on the 

 post alar callosity, but no bristles on the flattened, thick 

 scutellum. Scutellar disc finely micropubescent. Pleu- 

 ron thinly pollinose, black with very little pile except 

 on the propleuron. Pronotum with long, spikelike 

 bristles. Metapleuron with a vertical row of 6 bristles. 

 Postmetacoxal area membranous. Prosternum fully 

 dissociated. 



Legs: All the femora are stout, the tibia compara- 

 tively stout and all of the legs rather elongate. They 

 have sparse, small, appressed setae. The femora have 

 quite short, spinous bristles, the tibiae bear very stout, 

 spinous bristles which are a little longer. Hind femur 

 with 4 dorsolateral bristles, 2 of them on the outer 

 fourth, 6 ventrolateral bristles mostly along the base 

 and middle and 1 stout, subapical, ventral medial 

 bristle. Hind tibia with 6 prominent dorsolateral and 

 5 similar ventromedial bristles; also 5 ventral bristles. 

 Hind basitarsus quite long and comparatively slender, 

 fully as long as all of the remaining segments. Middle 

 femur with 3 anterolateral bristles and near the apex 1 

 prominent posterodorsal bristle. Middle tibia with 2 

 stout basal and 1 distal anterodorsal bristle, 5 small pos- 

 terodorsal bristles, 7 posteroventral, 4 anteroventral, 

 and 1 long, dorsoventral bristle. Anterior femur only 

 with 2 small, ventral basal bristles and 1 small, subapi- 

 cal, posterodorsal bristle. Its tibia has 1 stout, basal, 

 anterodorsal bristle, 4 smaller posterodorsal bristles, 9 

 posteroventral and 1 long, distal, ventral bristle. This 

 tibia bears at apex a long, prominent protuberance with 

 long, slender, curved, blunt, pronglike spines apposed 

 to a denticulate, conspicuous, basitarsal swelling. An- 

 terior and middle basitarsus both quite long and slender. 

 Claws stout, sharp; pulvillus and empodium well 

 developed. 



Wings: The wings are tinged with brown and yel- 

 low. Marginal cell widely open. First posterior and 

 fourth posterior cells a little narrowed. Anal cell 

 widely open, medial crossvein and upper part of an- 

 terior intercalary vein of equal length. Alula well 

 developed ; ambient vein complete ; posterior crossvein 

 absent. 



