DASTPOGONINAB 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



263 



near the apex. All dorsal and ventral pile is appressed 

 and setate. On the hind femur these stout bristles 

 are present: 6 ventrolateral with 2 additional elements 

 at the middle and above; also laterally there are 3 or 

 4 small, short bristles on the outer half, and 6 stout 

 bristles a little above the middle laterally with 1 or 2 

 bristles dorsolaterally on the outer third. Also there 

 is 1 dorsolateral subapical bristle, 1 dorsomedial, and 

 12 bristles distributed medially and broadly along the 

 middle. The hind tibia has very stout, short, oblique 

 bristles, all yellow; 4 dorsomedial, 5 ventromedial, 4 

 dorsolateral, and 4 ventrolateral elements. Middle 

 femur with 3 anteroventral bristles near the middle, 

 a pair subapically with another slightly behind. The 

 middle tibia has bristles similar to the posterior tibia 

 but most of them are black : only 1 strong, anterodorsal 

 bristle at the middle, 7 posterodorsal, 6 posteroventral, 

 3 longer, posteroventral below these, and 5 anteroventral 

 bristles. Anterior femur with 2 or 3 short bristles on 

 the outer fourth posteriorly and also 2 or 3 ventrally 

 along the middle; this tibia has 3 or 4 short, weak, 

 anterodorsal, 6 well developed posterodorsal, a double 

 row of posteroventral, the upper set containing 6 or 7 

 shorter bristles, the ventral set with 4 long, stout bris- 

 tles. Apex with a moderately stout, apically attenuate, 

 strongly bent sigmoid spine arising from a short, incon- 

 spicuous, basal protuberance. Basitarsus with no basal 

 swelling, but with a small hemicircular patch of 5 or 

 6 strong, short, stout denticles. Claws strongly curved 

 at the apex, moderately sharp ; pulvilli long, spatulate ; 

 empodium long and bristlelike. 



Wings: The wings are broad, marginal cell widely 

 open but slightly narrowed at the apex. All the 

 posterior cells are widely open. The fourth is slightly 

 narrowed and anal call open. The second basal cell 

 ends in two veins. The anterior crossvein enters the 

 discal cell at the middle. The anterior branch of the 

 third vein curves forward distinctly and shortly before 

 it ends, ending above the wing apex. Alula large, am- 

 bient vein complete. 



Abdomen : The pile of the abdomen is short and com- 

 paratively scanty, so that these flies have a rather bare 

 aspect. In the male there are seven tergites, the seventh 

 only a fourth the length of the sixth dorsally, but at 

 least half or more the length of the sixth segment later- 

 ally. Females with eight well developed tergites. Male 

 terminalia exceptionally large, club-shaped, prominent, 

 and rotate one-half. The hypandrium is long and un- 

 divided; the gonopod has a strong, toothed, terminal 

 spur. Female with acanthophorites and 5 pairs of 

 long, slender, sharp spines ; there are no accessory bris- 

 tles. Ventral plate deeply sulcate and medially sunken 

 and troughlike. 



Distribution: Neotropical: Aphamartania breviven- 

 tris Macquart (1848) ; digna Pritchard (1941) ; 

 frauenfeldi Schiner (1866) [ = panamensis Curran 

 (1931)]; maculipennis Macquart (1838) ; marga Prit- 

 chard (1941) ; wma Pritchard (1941) ; pritehardi Car- 

 rera (1943). 



Genus Paraphamartania Engel 



Figubes 176, 563, 1140, 1149 



Paraphamartania Engel, in Lindner, Die Fliegen der palaeark- 

 tischen region, vol. 4, pt. 24, p. 437, p. 440, 1930. Type of 

 genus: Aphamartania syriaca Schiner, 1867, by original 

 designation. 



Small flies with robust, cylindroid abdomen which is 

 but little tapered. They are dark colored with greyish 

 white or yellowish grey pollen and very short pile. All 

 the posterior cells widely open, the face short but 

 strongly convex due to the fact that it retreats strongly 

 below. The proboscis is small and subcylindrical, di- 

 rected obliquely forward and only a little longer than 

 the face. Face with fine pile and a few stiff hairs 

 ventrally, all of it pale. Anterior dorsocentral bristles 

 of mesonotum exaggerated and quite long. Length 6 

 to 8 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect : The face is moderately produced 

 but of uniform length, or slightly longer below; the 

 whole facial profile is greatly rounded and convex, of 

 nearly the same curvature as the eye; the epistoma 

 is small, nearly horizontal, concave and bare. The eye 

 is unusually long and as a result exceptionally convex 

 anteriorly. The occiput is exceptionally prominent but 

 chiefly swollen medially and it gently slopes down to 

 the eye margin, more strongly sloping near the vertex ; 

 it is much more prominent below due to the recession 

 of the eye. Pile of occiput comparatively short and 

 quite fine; moderately abundant below, it is scanty in 

 the middle, and is replaced on the upper fourth by 

 6 short, straight, pale, stout bristles. Proboscis short, 

 extended obliquely forward and extended well beyond 

 the retreating epistomal margin by fully half its 

 length; however, it barely extends beyond the anterior 

 level of the face. It has a high, medial ridge extending 

 from the base nearly to the apex ; apex bluntly pointed, 

 tapered from above and below and with a few stiff 

 hairs; the ventral surface before the middle has 7 or 

 8 long, fine hairs on each side. Palpus small, clearly 

 of two segments; the first is rather short, excavated 

 and bears 9 rather long but pale, slender, ventral hairs 

 and 2 or 3 lateral and apical hairs; second segment as 

 long as the first, cylindrical and slightly tapered toward 

 the apex with similar pale, stiff hairs and without pore. 

 The antenna is attached a little below the upper third 

 of the head; the first segment is a little longer than 

 the second, the second is about as wide as long and 

 both with fine pile ventrally and laterally, with shorter, 

 similar pile dorsally. The second segment has a single 

 long, stout, ventrolateral bristle. Third segment a 

 little swollen from base to the outer fourth, narrowed 

 to apex, and with two microsegments, the first of which 

 is quite short ; apex with a spine. 



Head, anterior aspect : The face below the antenna is 

 one-third the head width and slightly wider below 

 except at the epistoma or bottom of eye where it is a 

 little narrowed. The mystax may be composed of about 

 10 moderately stout, long, pale bristles on each side 



