LArilRIINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



345 



long, fine hairs, the pronotum with stiff pile and no 

 bristles. Upper and posterior mesopleuron with some 

 stiff, long hairs ; anterior section with some numerous, 

 fine, long hairs and the upper posterior margin of the 

 mesopleuron has 3 or 4 long bristles which vary from 

 slender to quite stout. Pteropleuron without pile; an- 

 terior and posterior hypopleuron with 3 or 4 fine hairs, 

 the latter with a patch spot of pubescence. Metapleu- 

 ron with a wide band of numerous, long bristles. Met- 

 anotal slopes bullose and pubescent only. Lateral 

 metastemum with numerous stiff hairs, ventral meta- 

 sternal pile quite long; postmetacoxal area membra- 

 nous, but slightly reduced in width; tegula pubescent 

 only. Prosternum not dissociated, but a little narrowed 

 posterolaterally above coxa. 



Legs: The femora are characteristically thickened 

 and stout, especially on the hind pair but all pairs lack 

 spines. Bristles are especially numerous, rather long, 

 and stout. The hind femur may bear the following 

 bristles : 3 or 4 irregular rows across the dorsal aspect 

 containing some 20 bristles, situated chiefly beyond the 

 middle; the dorsomedial and medial aspects have 3 or 

 more rows containing up to 30 bristles ; the lateral as- 

 pect has 3 rows containing approximately 20 bristles; 

 the ventral aspect may be well covered with short, stout 

 setae. In other species the dorsal, medial and lateral 

 bristles are restricted to a subapical cluster of about 8 

 bristles. Hind trochanters usually bulbous below and 

 always with very numerous, stiff setae which may be 

 blunt in some species and with 6 or 7 stout bristles 

 laterally. Hind tibia stout, arcuate and bearing bristles 

 as follows; 6 dorsal, 6 or 7 dorsolateral, 3 lateral, 6 

 weak, slender ventral, and a like number of weak ven- 

 tromedial bristles. The ventral surface has a fringe 

 of sparse, long, nearly erect pile and a brush of setae 

 only at the tip of apex. Hind tarsal segments greatly 

 shortened, the first four segments and the base of the 

 fifth with medial setate brush. Middle femur densely 

 clustered with stout bristles on the apical portion of 

 the anterior, dorsal and posterior surfaces and with 

 weaker, long bristles ventrally and posteriorly near the 

 base and stiff hairs in between. Its tibia sometimes has 

 an especially extensive complement of long bristles 

 consisting of a dorsal row, double anterodorsal row and 

 double posteroventral row as well as ventral elements. 

 Each row may contain 7 or 8 bristles. The anterior 

 femur may have stiff bristles posteriorly and dorsally 

 near the apex and its tibia with the same complement 

 as the middle tibia. Anterior tibial apex without 

 spine. Tarsi end in long, spatulate pulvilli; long, 

 basally thickened empodium; and stout, blunt claws 

 which are strongly curved from the base. 



Wings : The marginal cell, first posterior and fourth 

 posterior cells each closed with a long stalk. The an- 

 terior branch of the third vein ends well before the 

 apex; the second basal cell ends in three veins; alula 

 large; ambient vein complete. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is robust and rather convex 

 across the tergites ; the width is nearly or quite equal 

 the mesonotal width, or even the pleural width. First 



tergite unswollen. Pile of abdomen minute, setate and 

 appressed; often with tufts of longer, matted pile along 

 the posterior margins or in the posterior corners and 

 with some more or less erect, fringing pile along the 

 lateral margins especially toward the base. Bristles 

 may be restricted to the first three tergites or may ex- 

 tend on to the fourth with very weak elements on the 

 fifth tergite. They tend to be especially numerous on 

 the first tergite, or they may be restricted to the first 

 two tergites and comparatively weak on the second. 

 There are six tergites in the male, seven in the female; 

 the seventh is a third or less the length of the sixth ; the 

 eighth tergite is concealed beneath the seventh. Male 

 terminalia conspicuous and protuberant with a large, 

 bowl-shaped, convex, and relatively short epandrium 

 which tends to be rotate to the right, leaving the opened 

 aspect of the terminalia facing the left or upward. The 

 gonopods are not apposed medially. Female terminalia 

 exceptionally short and inconspicuous, but protruding 

 beyond the last tergite apically ; the ventral plate is at 

 most notched posteriorly. 



Distribution : Ethiopian : Laxenecera albicincta Loew 

 (1852) [=zonata Loew (1858)], albicincta splendida 

 Hermann (1919) ; andrenoides Macquart (184G) ; api- 

 formis Walker (1855); auribarba Karsch (1879); 

 auricomata Hermann (1919) ; auripes Hermann 

 (1919); chapini Curran (1927); dasypoda Speiser 

 (1910) ; dimidiata Curran (1927) ; ftavibarbi-s Macquart 

 (1838) [ = fhirticornis Guerin (1835)]; funditor Cur- 

 ran (1927) ; langi Curran (1927) ; moiaUana Seguy 

 (1939); mollis Loew (1858); nigrociliata Hermann 

 (1919) ; nigrocuprea Walker (1855) ; niveibarba Her- 

 mann (1919) ; rufitarsis Bezzi (1908) ; scopifera Speiser 

 (1910) ; serpentina Hermann (1919) ; sororcula Karsch 

 (1887); stuhlmanni Boeder (1893); tristis Bigot 

 (1858). 



Oriental: Laxenecera albibarbis Macquart (1838) 

 [=?sexfasciata Walker (1851)]; fbengalensis Wiede- 

 mann (1821). 



Genus Anypodetus Hermann 



Figttres 242,630, 1199, 1208, 1805, 2119 



Anypodetus Hermann, Zeitschr. syst. Hymen, und Dipt, vol. 7, 

 p. 69, 1907. Type of genus : Anypodetus fasciatus Her- 

 mann, 1907, by original designation. 



Small, compact flies of exceptionally bare aspect, oc- 

 casioned by the minute character of the pile. The 

 mesopleuron has no stout bristle but each tergite has 

 at least 1 stout bristle laterally. They are easily recog- 

 nized by the absence of pulvilli and the almost exact 

 alignment of the single end vein to the discal cell with 

 the end vein of the fourth posterior cell. Length 8 

 to 12 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect : The head is of medium length 

 or longer; the occiput is moderately developed but 

 does not begin to expand until some distance from 

 the eye margin; it has scanty, fine pile below, less 

 along the middle but rather more behind the vertex. 



