LEPTOGASTRINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



303 



white pollinose. Whole pleuron micropubeseent ; meso- 

 pleuron above and anteriorly with numerous, fine, long, 

 yellow hairs. Propleuron also with yellow hairs. 

 Pronotum without pile. Metapleuron with 4 or 5 

 weak, short bristles; hypopleuron micropubeseent only. 



Legs : Hind femur slightly and gradually thickened 

 towards the apex, densely short appressed pilose above 

 and below. The dorsal surface has 2 short, tubercu- 

 late bristles at or just beyond the middle. The ventral 

 surface has 3 bristles. The apex has 3 stout, slightly 

 longer bristles of which 1 is dorsolateral, 2 are dorso- 

 medial. Tibia as long as the femur, equally slender 

 throughout except at the apex, which is somewhat swol- 

 len and with very stout, sharp, oblique bristles. The 

 lower or more ventral bristles are 4 in number, begin- 

 ning at the basal third, ending at the distal fifth and 

 somewhat longer than the 8 dorsal bristles, which begin 

 nearer the base and end nearer the apex ; apex with a 

 minute pair of dorsal, 2 long lateral, 1 long, stout, 

 medial, and 2 extremely long, very stout, ventral bris- 

 tles. Middle femur much shorter and distinctly less 

 than half as long as hind femur, with only a single, 

 very strong, black posterodorsal bristle; its tibia has 

 only 2 bristles, posterior in position and distal. Apex 

 below with 3 bristles, middle one short, lateral bris- 

 tles long and stout, all of them black. Anterior fe- 

 mur with a short bristle and the apex posteriorly with 

 a bristle ; the tibia has 3 short posterior bristles begin- 

 ning just beyond the middle. The red apical bristles 

 consist of 2 anterior, 1 posterior, and 2 ventral bris- 

 tles, of which 1 is extremely long and stout. All tar- 

 sal bristles black. Anterior basitarsus with 3 poste- 

 rior and 2 anterior bristles. Claws sharp, long and 

 only slightly curved, entirely black and convergent. 

 Pulvilli absent; empodium very stout and short, only 

 one-third as long as the claw or shorter, and bladelike, 

 curved, and sharp. 



Wings: The fourth vein forks near the middle of 

 the discal cell ; as a result the basal section of the an- 

 terior intercalary vein is quite long; the posterior 

 crossvein is rectangular. The first and second sub- 

 marginal cells and the first and second posterior cells 

 are quite long, with nearly parallel sides. End veins of 

 second basal cell fused. Ambient vein complete. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is of the usual Leptogaster 

 type; sides of first tergite with 2 rather short, stout 

 black bristles in a vertical and lateral row ; below them 

 a group of 4 long, pale, reddish yellow bristles. Pos- 

 terior corners laterally of the remaining tergites with 

 tufts of long, yellowish hair. First and second ter- 

 gites entirely cylindrical. 



Distribution: Palaearctic: Mesoleptogaster oicolo- 

 ripes Hsia (1949); fulvicrus Hsia (1949). 



Ethiopian: Mesoleptogaster madagascariein.sk Frey 

 (1937). 



Oriental: Mesoleptogaster convergent Frey (1937); 

 fuscatipennis Frey (1937) ; gracilipes Hsia (1949) ; 

 trimaculata de Meijere (1914). 



Genua Ammophilomima Enderlein 



Figures 203, 600, 1297 



Ammophilomima Euderlein, Wiener Ent. Zeitung, vol. 33, 

 p. 155, 1914. Type of genus: Ammophilomima imitatrix 

 Enderlein, 1914, by original designation. 



Bather large species, in general similar to Lepto- 

 gaster Meigen. They differ in the closed and usually 

 long, stalked, anal cell, the complete or almost com- 

 plete chitinization of the postmetacoxal area of the 

 metasternum, and the long, third antennal segment with 

 short style. They are more wasplike, with the abdo- 

 men tending to be clavate and terminally swollen. The 

 hind legs are exceptionally elongate, the hind femur 

 scarcely dilate at apex, and characteristically with a 

 small, isolated hair flock on the middle of the inner 

 surface of this femur. Hind tibia with 5 or 6 stout, 

 dorsal bristles distributed over its length, besides one 

 at apex. Wings generally long and slender. Proboscis 

 constricted at base from a dorsal aspect. From 

 Lagynogaster Hermann they are distinguished by the 

 presternum being broadly fused to the lateral pro- 

 pleuron and by the extremely long, upper, anterior, 

 intercalary vein, which is 5 or 6 times as long as the 

 medial crossvein. Length 9 to 26 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face is completely plane 

 with the eye, except for a small protrusion immedi- 

 ately above the epistoma. The occiput is narrow and 

 in profile completely obliterated; the eye is laterally 

 extended and turned in medially behind, so that a 

 considerable portion of the posterior eye margin faces 

 backward. The proboscis is slender and elongate and 

 distinctly constricted near the base. The palpus, com- 

 posed of one segment, is moderately elongate, clavate, 

 obtuse at tip, and with 3 or 4 apical hairs. 



Head, anterior aspect: The head is wide and flat- 

 tened ; the face on the dorsal portion is like Psilonyx 

 Aldrich, greatly narrowed and the eyes almost holoptic, 

 the central facets grossly enlarged. The face is pubes- 

 cent and on the small protrusive ridge above the epi- 

 stoma it bears 2 pairs of slender bristles. The front 

 is quite narrow and the vertex excavated with several 

 stout, deep-set, postvertical bristles. 



Thorax: The thorax is chiefly bare with pollen or 

 pubescence laterally and with well developed and mod- 

 erately long, bristly hairs in the acrostical and dor- 

 socentral rows. Pleuron micropubeseent with rather 

 abundant pile on the whole upper half of the meso- 

 pleuron, most of the metapleuron and pteropleuron. 

 Presternum fused. 



Legs: Hind legs exceptionally long and slender; the 

 femur very little swollen, the increase in girth being 

 gradual from the base. This femur bears scanty, fine, 

 sharp, subappressed setae on all sides including the 

 lower surface and a small medial hair-flock on the 

 medial third. Apex with 2 stout bristles medially, 

 one laterally. Hind tibia with 4 stout, dorsal bristles, 

 a dense band of setae in ranks on the medial surface 

 at the outer fourth and also ventrally but closer to the 



