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UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 22 4 



PABT 1 



gradually and slightly widened to near the apex, which 

 is rounded; this segment is, then, usually clavate. 

 Apex with a small pit and minute spine and often a 

 sensory groove. 



Head, anterior aspect : The head is about as wide as 

 the thorax; the face is wide, nearly one-third the head 

 width, slightly divergent below and densely covered 

 above and below with long, coarse pile and slender 

 bristles, which are sometimes stout and conspicuous 

 down the middle of the gibbosity. More rarely the 

 pile is reduced and flattened laterally, the bristles re- 

 duced to a vertical row on each side of 10 or 12 ele- 

 ments. It is possible that such species should be 

 removed to Maira Schiner. Subepistomal area large, 

 concave and oblique. The front, is short, generally bare, 

 the sides next to the eye strongly sloping and with a 

 conspicuous band of long, slender bristles or bristly 

 pile. Vertex deeply excavated, with lateral pile, the 

 sides a little divergent. The ocellarium is large but 

 low, with anteriorly a pair of weak bristles and some 

 additional bristly hairs. Sometimes there may be as 

 many as 3 pairs of bristles or 1 pair of stout bristles. 



Thorax: The mesonotum is broad and low and 

 gently convex, densely covered with erect pile, includ- 

 ing the humerus. The pile is undifferentiated but be- 

 comes longer posteriorly. The lateral complement of 

 bristles is rather weak in many species and strong in 

 others and consists of 1 or 2 notopleural, 3 to 6 su- 

 praalar; 3 to 9 postalar, and 4 to 10 pairs of scutellar 

 bristles. The metanotal callosity is usually without 

 pile or bristles. The upper corner of the mesopleuron 

 has 1 to 4 long, stout bristles and numerous, equally 

 long, slender bristles or bristly hairs in the type of 

 genus. Some species have only a few scattered hairs 

 posteriorly and dorsally. Metapleuron with a wide 

 band of long, distally curved bristles. Prosternum 

 fused and continuous. Metasterum pilose laterally and 

 ventrally; postmetacoxal area widely membranous, or 

 sometimes with a short, rounded, inward extension of 

 the lateral sclerite. 



Legs: The femora are stout and distinctly though 

 moderately swollen. On the hind femur the swelling 

 is greatest on the outer half; its tibia also swollen, a 

 little curved and distinctly robust. Pile of the legs con- 

 spicuous, bristly in character, rather long and dense. 

 In the more pilose species such as the type of genus, 

 most of the bristles grade into the more slender ele- 

 ments and then into stiff pile, the length varying con- 

 siderably. On the hind femur are 3 stout, ventrolateral 

 bristles on the outer third and 1 or 2 medially nearer 

 the apex. Its tibia bears 6 or 7 stout, dorsal bristles, 

 their tarsi and especially their basitarsus robust and 

 swollen. In some species there may be an irregular 

 double row of dorsal bristles containing some 20 ele- 

 ments or they may be reduced to 1 row of 2 or 3 bristles. 

 In such species as the Nearctic Laphria saddles the pile 

 of the legs is everywhere reduced to scanty, short, sub- 

 appressed setae and extremely few bristles. Such spe- 

 cies also have the thoracic and abdominal pile similarly 

 reduced. Claws stout, quite sharp, bent strongly near 



the apex; the pulvilli large and broad, the empodium 

 swollen towards the base and a little flattened. 



Wings : The marginal cell is closed and stalked but 

 short in most species, longer in others. The anterior 

 branch of the third vein is strongly arched from its base 

 and sigmoid; it ends a little above the wing apex; the 

 posterior branch ends far behind. The first posterior 

 cell is open and only slightly narrowed ; the lower end 

 vein of the discal cell is long and strongly pulled to- 

 wards the base. Fourth posterior cell closed with a 

 long stalk. Anal cell closed, the ambient vein com- 

 plete; the anterior crossvein is rectangular and enters 

 the discal cell before the middle, sometimes at the basal 

 fourth. 



Abdomen : In most species the abdomen is relatively 

 narrow and a little elongate, as wide as the mesonotum 

 but scarcely as wide as the thorax. The type of genus 

 and several European species such as Laphria flara 

 and ephippium are exceptions, the abdomen being broad 

 and robust and rather short. Pile of abdomen gen- 

 erally dense and erect, almost obscuring the ground 

 color ; in some cases it is matted into posteriorly diver- 

 gent hair patterns. In Laphria saddles the abdomen 

 appears almost bare because of the minute, appressed 

 setae. Males have seven tergites, the seventh quite 

 short; females with eight tergites, the seventh and 

 eighth both short and possibly to be considered part of 

 the ovipositor. Male terminalia rotate one-half, con- 

 spicuous, large and elongate. The undivided epan- 

 drium forms a long, ventral, bowl or trough-shaped 

 structure. The gonopod is conspicuous, often with 

 lobes or prongs and the hypandrium is very short or 

 absent, the genital cavity open. Female terminalia 

 short and conical, the sternal element broad and 

 flattened. 



Laphria is much the largest genus in the subfamily. 

 Those species still credited to South America probably 

 belong in other genera such as Pilica Curran, Smerin- 

 golaphria Hermann and others. While to a consid- 

 erable extent replaced by Maira Schiner and Choerades 

 Walker in the South Pacific, there are still many spe- 

 cies remaining in that area and a few extend into 

 Australia. 



Distribution : Nearctic : Laphria amtus Walker 

 (1849) ; aimatis McAtee (1918) ; aktte McAtee (1918) ; 

 altitudinum Bromley (1924); anthrax Williston 

 (1884); canis Williston (1884); carbonaria Snow 

 (1896) ; carolinensis Schiner (1867) ; coquittetti McAtee 

 (1918); crocea McAtee (1918); disparella Banks 

 (1911) ; felis Osten Sacken (1877), felis atripes Mc- 

 Atee (1918); ferox Williston (1884); fiavipila Mac- 

 quart (1834) ; fran.cisca.na Bigot (1878) ; georgina 

 Wiedemann (1821) ; index McAtee (1918) ; ithypyga 

 McAtee (1918) ; janus McAtee (1918) ; lasipus Wiede- 

 mann (1828); melanog aster Wiedemann (1821); mil- 

 vina Bromley (1929) ; pubescens Williston (1884) ; 

 rapax Osten Sacken (1877) ; sachem Wilcox (1936) ; 

 sadales Walker (1849) ; sajfrana Fabricius (1805) ; 

 scorpio McAtee (1918); sericea Say (1823); sicula 

 McAtee (1918); terra-novae Macquart (1838); trux 



