DASTPOGONIXAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



289 



hairs; second with setae and 1 or 2 weak ventral 

 bristles; third iy 2 times the combined length of the 

 first two, tending to be quite narrow basally and 

 moderately dilated on the outer two-thirds. It bears 

 a small, apical, semifused, dorsally open, spoonlike 

 mici'osegment with concealed spine. 



Head, anterior aspect: The head is not quite twice 

 as wide as high; face broad, slightly wider below, often 

 without pile on the upper half, with some coarse hairs 

 on the ventral half and mystax composed of a dense 

 band of quite slender, pale bristles or with 8 to 10 more 

 isolated, slightly stronger bristles. Front distinctly 

 wider than the upper face, the vertex not narrowed. 

 The front is comparatively small, largely bare, and 

 polished with a submedial row of quite fine hairs. 

 Ocular margins of the vertex with similar fine hairs. 

 Vertex but little excavated. The ocellarium is large 

 but rather low and bears a pair of quite slender, bristly 

 hairs between the posterior ocelli and 1 or 2 others 

 behind. Anterior eye facets enlarged. 



Thorax : The thorax is unusually high and short ; the 

 mesonotum is moderately high and convex, densely 

 micropubescent with a few differentiated acrostical 

 hairs arising out of the pubescence. Dorsocentral 

 elements are chiefly differentiated only behind the 

 suture, where each row may have 5 bristly hairs, 2 or 3 

 others situated medially. Lateral bristles are long and 

 slender; there is 1 notopleural, 2 or 3 supraalar, 1 or 2 

 bristles on the posterior callosity and 1 pair on the 

 scutellum. Scutellum with deep, prominent, trans- 

 verse, groovelike wrinkles. Metanotum unusually high, 

 the callosities pubescent only. Pleuron largely polli- 

 nose and with vertical bands of golden pubescence in 

 some species. Posterior border of mesopleuron and 

 sternopleuron with fine pile. Metapleuron with at 

 most long, slender, bristly hairs. Postmetacoxal area 

 membranous; lateral and ventral metasternum with 

 long, fine pile. Presternum fully dissociated. 



Legs: The legs are polished and largely bare with 

 a few, fine, minute, scattered, appressed hairs and very 

 few short spines on the femora, somewhat longer spines 

 on the tibia. The hind legs are not very long; both 

 femur and tibia are dilated distally but all the tarsi 

 are slender. Hind femur with 4 dorsolateral bristles, 

 3 ventrolateral, and at apex 1 dorsomedial bristle. 

 Hind tibia witli 4 dorsolateral, 3 dorsomedial, 3 ventro- 

 lateral, apex with only 3 bristles. This tibia also has 

 ranked, ventral setae over most of its length. Middle 

 femur with 2 anterior and 1 small posterodorsal apical 

 bristle. Middle tibia with 3 small dorsal bristles and 

 1 quite long, middle and 1 distal anterodorsal bristle; 

 also with 4 small posteroventral and 2 quite long ventral 

 bristles. Anterior femur without bristles. Anterior 

 tibia unusually slender and with only 3 minute postero- 

 dorsal, 3 posteroventral bristles apart from those of 

 the apex. Apex with medioventral, short protuberance 

 and straight, sharp, slightly curved spine apposed to 

 a basitarsal swelling. Ventral surface of anterior 

 basitarsus with dense, fine, erect pile continued on to 



the other segments. Claws slender, sharp; pulvilli 

 large; empodium slender. 



Wings: The wings are hyaline or partly marked 

 with brown or yellow. The wing is comparatively slen- 

 der with the cells narrow. Marginal cell quite widely 

 open ; the second submarginal cell is widened both above 

 and below the third vein and forked nearly opposite the 

 discal cell. All posterior cells and the anal cell widely 

 open. Posterior crossvein is long; the anterior cross- 

 vein enters the discal cell well before the middle. Alula 

 only moderately wide; ambient vein complete, villi 

 reduced or absent over much of the wing. 



Abdomen: The abdomen is comparatively short and 

 distinctly clublike; the first segment is short and nearly 

 as wide as the thorax, the second longer and the abdo- 

 men most narrow at the end of the second segment and 

 widest at the base of the fifth segment. Surface cover 

 densely appressed, finely setate, with numerous, long, 

 fine hairs laterally on the first and second and to some 

 extent on the third segments. First segment laterally 

 with at least 1 stout bristle. Males with six well de- 

 veloped segments, the seventh may show as a linear 

 trace or be completely concealed, the eighth is deeply 

 tucked under. Females with eight segments, the last 

 two short. Males with a rather deep recess dorsally 

 beneath the posterior edge of the fourth and fifth seg- 

 ments. Male terminalia recessive and very largely 

 tucked in beneath the sixth to eighth segments. The 

 epandrium is simple with large, elongate, subcorneal 

 proctiger. Hypandrium quite short, gonopod well 

 developed with hooklike, apical process; penis valves 

 large, flared with distal teeth. Female with acantho- 

 phorites and very minute spines so deeply recessed that 

 they are sometimes not evident. 



Distribution: Australian: BrachyrrhopaJa bella 

 White (1917) ; claviventris Walker (1861) ; fenestrates 

 Macquart (1849) [=victor!ae Boeder (1892)]; indec- 

 orus Walker (1865) ; inopinus Walker (1859) ; Umbi- 

 pennis Macquart (1846) [ = marulinervis Macquart 

 (1S49), tasmaniae Walker (1851)]; nitidus Macquart 

 (1844), nitidus dissimilis Hardy (1917) ; quadricincta 

 Bigot (1878) [=fuiva Ricardo (1912)]; rufcornis 

 Macquart (1847) ; semifilatus Walker (1862) ; semirufa 

 Hardy (1930) ; solutus Walker (1862). 



Genus Cabaza Walker 



Figures 171, 579, 1164, 1173, 1695, 1715, 1724, 1924, 2035 



Cabaza Walker, Insecta saundersiana, vol. 1, pt. 2, p. 100, 1851. 

 Type of genus : Dasypogon pulchella Macquart, 1846, as 

 Cabaza rufithorax Walker 1851, by nionotypy. 



Small, robust, shining, black flies, generally with a 

 reddish thorax which is high and strongly hump- 

 backed. The broad wings are unusually dark brown or 

 blackish. The female terminalia are strongly recessed, 

 the minute spines often hidden. Eelated to Brachyr- 

 rhopala Macquart, they are separated from this and 

 allied genera by the strongly elevated and arched mes- 



