328 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 224 



PABT 1 



with a pair of small hairs or a pair of long bristles, 

 besides some fine postocellar hair. Vertex rather deeply 

 excavated, with slanting sides and only slightly wider 

 than the face. 



Thorax : The mesonotum is broad and low and gently 

 convex. It is densely appressed pilose or sometimes 

 with rather loose, but abundant flatly curled setae; the 

 pile is almost undifferentiated except for 2 pairs of 

 short, fine, postdorsocentral, bristly hairs. In the type 

 of genus there are very fine dorsocentral bristles which 

 continue throughout the entire length but acrostical 

 elements are undifferentiated. The lateral bristles are 

 weak and consist of 1 notopleural, 4 or 5 supraalar, 1 

 long, or 3 very short postalar and 3 pairs of very 

 long, slender bristles on the scutellum ; in some species 

 scutellar bristles are absent. Scutellar disc with ap- 

 pressed pile. Mesopleuron with 1 or 2 long bristles 

 and considerable scattered, fine, long pile in the type 

 of genus or with only the dorsal border covered with 

 matted, bright, curled pile. Propleuron with fine, 

 bristly pile. Metapleuron with a vertical band of long 

 bristles and fine pile. Metanotal callosity in the type 

 of genus pollinose only. Postmetacoxal area mem- 

 branous. 



Legs : All of the femora, especially the hind pair quite 

 stout. In the type of genus the hind femur is plane 

 below and arched above ; the ventral surface has a stout, 

 basal, nonspinous tubercle and a smaller, distal, ventro- 

 lateral tubercle which bears stout, apical spines; there 

 is a similar tubercle and bristle laterally and ventrally 

 near the apex. Pile of hind femur short, setate and ap- 

 pressed dorsally with some long, fine, lateral hairs; 

 anterior and middle femora with dense, conspicuous 

 bands of bright colored, erect, long, bristly pile in the 

 type of genus, but is much less prominent in other spe- 

 cies. Hind tibia with several dorsal and lateral rows 

 and a ventromedial row of 8 or 10 slender, long bristly 

 hairs ; these hairs become more numerous over the ven- 

 tral surface. The first 4 tibia have a greatly exagger- 

 ated, very long, conspicuous, ventral fringe; middle 

 pair with slender bristles and bristly hairs which are 

 curved and twisted distally. Anterodorsal surface of 

 the middle tibia with 8 long bristles. Claws moderately 

 sharp, rather blunt on the hind pair; pulvilli and em- 

 podium large, the latter bladelike. 



Wings : In the type of genus the anterior branch of 

 the third vein is long and almost straight, bent shortly 

 only after it arises. Fourth posterior cell closed with 

 a long stalk. Lower end vein of the discal cell is long 

 and drawn toward the base. Anal cell closed, alula 

 large, ambient vein complete. Wings often tinged with 

 brown. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is robust but at the base not 

 quite as wide as the mesonotum, or sometimes fully as 

 wide. Sides of the abdomen are parallel, except at the 

 apex or slightly narrowed at the end of the second seg- 

 ment. Pile dense, flat appressed, setate and subap- 

 pressed, sometimes partly scalelike. In the type of 

 genus bristles are present only on the first tergite. Males 

 with six tergites and a very shortly exposed seventh 



tergite. Females with also a very shortly exposed 

 seventh tergite. Male terminalia large and conspicu- 

 ous, rotate one-half with deep, bowllike, inverted epan- 

 drium. Gonopod large, the cavity of the genitalia 

 exposed. Females with the eighth tergite very short, 

 the terminalia small and cylindrical. 



Distribution : Nearctic : Lampria bicolor Wiedemann 

 (1828) [ = antaea Walker (1849), megacera Macquart 

 (1834), saniosa Say (1829)]; corallogaster Bigot 

 (1878) ; rubriventris Macquart (1834). 



Neotropical: Lampria aurifex Osten Sacken (1887) 

 [ = clavipes Bellardi (1861) not Fabricius] ; bitincta 

 Walker (1860) ; cilipes Walker (1857) ; circumdata 

 Bellardi (1861) ; clavipes Fabricius (1805) ; dives Wie- 

 demann (1828); fulgida Schiner (1868); macquartii 

 Perty (1833) ; mexicana Macquart (1847) ; parvula 

 Bigot (1878) ; pusilla Macquart (1838) ; scapularis 

 Bigot (1878); spinipes Fabricius (1805) [=afflnis 

 Fabricius (1805)]; splendens Macquart (1834); tol- 

 mides Walker (1849). 



The species Lampria splendens Macquart (1834), 

 from Surinam, described as a Laphria Meigen and 

 placed by Kertesz in Maira Schiner is almost without 

 doubt a species of Lampria Macquart. Also Maira 

 claripennis le Guillou (1842), from Triton Bay, de- 

 scribed as a Laphria, and placed by Kertesz in Lampria 

 is in all probability a species of Maira. I am making 

 this obvious geographical correction though I have not 

 been able to examine the types. The genus Lampria is 

 a well known Neotropical genus and the genus Maira 

 is characteristically Oriental and Australian, contain- 

 ing many species. These two genera have in common 

 the one superficial character of a brilliant metallic 

 coloration. 



Brychomyia, new subgenus 



Type of subgenus: Laphria rubriventris Macquart, 

 1834. 



This subgenus is distinguished from Neotropical 

 members of Lampria Macquart by the presence of dense, 

 short, bristly pile on the metanotal callosities, the dense 

 pile on the upper corners of face, the absence of distinct 

 bristles on the ocellar tubercle and the not metallic color. 

 Anterior branch of third vein is strongly S-shaped. 

 The species Lampria bicolor also belongs here. 



Genus Maira Schiner 



Figures 214, 611, 1241, 1250, 2147 



Maira Schiner, Verh. zool.-bot Ges. Wien, vol. 16, p. 673, 1866. 

 Type of genus : Laphria spectahilis Gue>in, 1830, by original 

 designation. 



Eather large, bare flies which are generally brilliant, 

 metallic green or purple coloration and more rarely cop- 

 pery. They are moderately robust and the proboscis is 

 very long, comparatively slender, and strongly com- 

 pressed laterally. The pleuron is densely pollinose. 

 The first 4 femora are relatively slender or only slightly 

 swollen. Hind femur strongly swollen, but entirely on 



