LAPURIINAB 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



Abdomen : The abdomen is comparatively robust and 

 distinctly clavate, more so in the female. Surface 

 densely covered with fine, suberect hairs and the first 

 two segments with appressed, reddish golden, curled 

 hairs. Much of the first segment, all of the second and 

 the base of the third segment all orange red. Male with 

 six tergites, those beyond the sixth are completely con- 

 cealed below. Females with seven segments, the seventh 

 segment concealed dorsally, exposed laterally and the 

 eighth segment forming the blunt base of the oviposi- 

 tor. The first segment is long, with 2 stout bristles 

 laterally and some coarse, long pile. Second segment 

 in the male with 2 or 3 stout bristles laterally in the 

 middle of the lateral margin ; these bristles are weaker 

 in the female. The club of the abdomen begins at the 

 base of the third segment; in the male the posterior 

 part of the abdomen is widest at the end of the fourth 

 segment and is not quite twice as wide as the base of 

 the abdomen ; but in the female the club of the abdomen 

 is at least 2y 2 times as wide as the base of the abdomen. 

 Male terminalia large, rotate, with the greater portion 

 projecting ventrally beneath the abdomen so that less 

 shows from the dorsal aspect. It differs from Rhopalo- 

 gaster by having the gonopod rather strongly apposed 

 dorsally. Female terminalia consist of the short, 

 rapidly narrowed eighth segment, the long, conical, 

 posteriorly depressed ninth segment and the moderately 

 long tenth segment. 



These insects appear to mimic certain Hymenoptera 

 and there is also a syrphid fly Kryptopyga pendulosa 

 Hull, to which, with its long antenna, club-shaped abdo- 

 men and dark, subapical wing spot, these asilids also 

 bear a strong resemblance. 



Distribution: Oriental: Borapisma chinai Hull 

 (1957). 



Phellopteron, new genus 

 Figtjbes 256, 628, 1219, 1228, 2150 



Type of genus : Phellopteron farri, new species. 



Small flies related to Rhopalogaster Macquart and 

 distinguished by the differently shaped abdomen and 

 shorter, differently shaped third antennal segment. 

 The abdomen in the male is barely wider apically at the 

 end of the fourth tergite than at the base, whereas in 

 the males of Rhopalogaster the base of the abdomen is 

 drawn out into a long, narrow, cylindrical, petiolate 

 tube on the second tergite, and the abdomen is strongly 

 widened on the remaining tergites, so that it presents a 

 strong, wasplike appearance. In Phellopteron the 

 female abdomen is obtuse at the apex, a little wider at 

 the base, and the last 2 sternites are bluntly turned ver- 

 tically upward. The antenna has the third segment 

 only a little longer than the combined length of the 

 first two segments and it is widest in the middle, in- 

 stead of apically expanded and flared as in Rhopalo- 

 gaster. The males in Rhopalogaster have the hind 

 femur swollen chiefly below, with a ventrolateral and 

 ventromedial row of tuberculate spines. In Phellop- 

 teron the hind femur, swollen chiefly above, has only a 



341 



row of stout setae along the ventromedial margin and 

 its hind tibia, especially in the male, is strongly arcuate 

 basically. Length including antenna 11 mm. 



Distribution: Neotropical: Phellopteron farri, new 

 species. From Jamaica. 



Phellopteron farri, new species 



Length including antenna 11 mm. 



Male, female. Head: The head is black. Pile of 

 front and vertex, antenna, and upper third of occiput 

 black. None of this pile forms strong bristles. Ocellar 

 tubercle with a pair of moderately stout, long bristles 

 and 2 pairs of shorter, slender, bristly hairs. Face 

 black, very thinly dusted with fine, greyish white 

 micropubescence very much like pollen and with on the 

 dorsal half a dense mat of silvery, appressed, scalelike 

 hairs. The quite inconspicuous, low gibbosity has 

 numerous, slender, moderately long, black, bristly hairs 

 curved downward, changing to whitish hairs on the 

 lowest portion of the face. Lower occipital pile and 

 basal pile of the proboscis abundant, long, and white. 

 Proboscis shining black. The small, short, cylindrical 

 palpus has two segments and is blackish. Proboscis 

 strongly and abruptly swollen at the base below. An- 

 tenna black, the first segment with numerous, stiff, 

 black hairs above, laterally and below. This segment 

 is three or four times as long as the short, second seg- 

 ment. Third segment in males rather slender, barely 

 wider in the middle and iy s times the combined length 

 of the first two segments. Antenna of females similar 

 but with some white hairs ventrally on the first seg- 

 ment, and the third segment, while shaped similarly, is 

 proportionately a little longer, slightly wider in the 

 middle, and barely wider at the apex, which is obliquely 

 truncate. 



Thorax : The thorax is opaque black, with a pair of 

 faint, light brown vittae visible only from behind and 

 ending just past the suture. The suture is margined 

 with pollen of the same color, expanded submedially 

 into a knoblike figure, which appears triangular from 

 the rear. There is similar pollen visible posteriorly 

 along the lateral margins of the mesonotum. The sub- 

 medial vittae may be wanting. Scutellum opaque 

 black with 5 or 6 pairs of long slender, upturned pale 

 bristles or bristly hairs. Pleuron black, thickly dusted 

 with greyish white pollen, which becomes brownish in 

 front of the black, metapleural bristles. Posterior cor- 

 ner of the mesopleuron with a conspicuous, spikelike, 

 black bristle. Mesonotal pile sparse, fine, erect and 

 black. Pleural pile whitish. Pleural pile white and 

 abundant. Metanotal callosity without pile. 



Legs: The legs are chiefly shining black, the hind 

 tibia dark, reddish brown, somewhat more blackish at 

 the apex, other tibiae also quite dark, reddish brown 

 basally. In males the hind femur is rather strongly 

 thickened chiefly but not entirely on the dorsal aspect, 

 and its tibia is strongly thickened. Pile of the hind 

 femur long but scanty and yellowish white except for 

 a few, blackish hairs at the apex. Hind tibia with a 



