LAPHRIINAE 



ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



381 



basally stout, finely tapered bristles. Claws fine, sharp ; 

 pulvilli and empodium well developed. 



Wings : The wings are nearly hyaline ; the marginal 

 cell is closed with a moderately long stalk. First pos- 

 terior cell widely open, the medial crossvein wanting; 

 the vein ending the fourth posterior cell usually meets 

 the upper anterior intercalary vein, which closes the 

 discal cell. Stalk of fourth posterior cell is long; anal 

 cell closed and stalked. Whole wing villose except base 

 of axillary lobe. Alula quite narrow ; the ambient vein 

 appears to be absent from the apex of the wing to the 

 end of the anal cell. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is slender, coarsely punctu- 

 late but with abundant, fine, suberect setae and only a 

 few longer hairs ventrally on the curled over sides of the 

 first 2 or 3 tergites. Sides of the long first tergite with 

 5 stout, pale bristles. Middle of the lateral margin of 

 segments 2 to 4 or beyond each with 2 conspicuous, pale 

 bristles. 



Distribution: Neotropical: Catonomyia spiculata, 

 new species. 



Catonomyia spiculata, new species 



Length 10 mm. with antenna. Male. Head: The 

 head is quite black, face densely covered with excep- 

 tionally minute, silvery white, appressed, micropubes- 

 cence ; the whole of the front, except a medial line and 

 except a minute supraantennal triangle, also covered. 

 The silvery pubescence continued at the bottom of the 

 deep trough, beside the high, vertical, walled, ocellar 

 tubercle and toward the back as a conspicuous patch be- 

 tween the narrow walls of the postvertex. The outer 

 third of the flat and rather recessive occiput is similarly 

 covered with dense, silvery pubescence. Its upper limit 

 is widely separated from the medial, vertical patch and 

 also all of the medial part of the occiput is black. Pile 

 of lower half of occiput is white, fine, and scanty; 3 

 white bristles in the middle of the occiput, 5 quite sharp, 

 moderately stout, straight, sharp, black bristles on the 

 upper part of the occiput in a single row. Upper half 

 of face with 4 white hairs on each side in vertical row 

 and below on the almost non-existent, retreating gib- 

 bosity are 5 pairs of submedial, long, slender, black 

 bristles in vertical row, and in the middle below there are 

 4 shorter, black hairs. Proboscis shining, brownish 

 black, extending slightly beyond the face, the apex blunt 

 but not truncate. Palpus not large, the second segment 

 of moderate size, slender, with black, slender, bristly 

 hairs. Sides of front with 3 minute, black, bristly hairs, 

 tubercule with 2 long, slender, black bristles. 



Antenna with the first two segments dark reddish 

 brown but not black. Third segment nearly black, the 

 extreme base reddish brown. This segment is quite 

 slender, attenuate toward the apex, and bears a long, 

 medial scar of differentiated pubescence, the pubescence 

 at the extreme apex a little longer. On the dorsal side 

 near the middle is a deep incision with yellow spine. 

 First segment twice as long as second with 2 long, 

 slender, black bristles below and other long, black setae. 



Second segment with long, black setae or short bristles 

 above and below at apex. 



Thorax: The mesonotum is shining black, not very 

 high, not punctured, and with a patch of silvery pol- 

 len on the humerus, narrowly behind the humerus and 

 narrowly on lateral margin, behind which it changes 

 to reddish brown, but of still limited extent. The pile 

 is appressed, abundant and reddish brown and is a 

 little more conspicuous and longer behind the suture, 

 where it is almost fox-red in color. Anteriorly are 

 4 fine, longer, black hairs in the dorsocentral row, be- 

 coming scarcely longer posteriorly. Lateral bristles 

 long but fine, 1 on notopleuron, 1 supraalar, 2 on the 

 shining, bare, light, reddish brown post callosity; and 

 on the shining, black scutellum there are 4 quite long, 

 remarkably stout, evenly spaced, reddish brown, spike- 

 like bristles. Disc of scutellum with some 8 or 9 long, 

 suberect hairs on each side. Pleuron black, thinly 

 dusted with silvery pollen, except on the anterior 

 mesopleuron, where it is even less conspicuous. It is 

 comparatively dense on the posterior half of the meso- 

 pleuron and the whole sternopleuron. Postmetacoxal 

 arch of the metasternum rather long and fully chitin- 

 ized. Halteres light reddish brown. MetanotaJ cal- 

 losity with bristly, yellow pile. There is a narrow, 

 prescutellar band of minute, reddish pubescence on the 

 mesonotum. 



Legs: The femora, also, the hind tibia but little 

 thickened. Medially the hind femur has a very scanty 

 fringe of erect pile onty along the middle. Hind tibia 

 with a somewhat abundant fringe, the apex narrowly 

 with flattened, reddish, ranked setae. All the femora 

 are dark reddish brown over the greater middle por- 

 tion, becoming lighter reddish or even yellowish at 

 the extreme base and more widely at the apex. Bristles 

 moderately abundant, slender but quite long. They 

 are extraordinarily long on the middle and anterior 

 tibia and also dorsally on the hind tibia. They are 

 only moderately long on the hind femur and the pile 

 is long but quite scanty and not at all abundant. Basal 

 third of the hind femur ventrally with 3 or 4 quite 

 long, reddish yellow bristles. Hind tibia with 3 simi- 

 lar, somewhat more stout, dorsolateral bristles, 4 or 5 

 much more slender bristles or bristly hairs dorsomedi- 

 ally, which are not quite as long. Ventral surface 

 with 4 quite long, strongly curved, whitish bristles. 

 Middle femur with an anteroventral fringe of 5 or 6 

 bristles and a posteroventral fringe of 10 or 12 slender 

 bristles. Middle tibia with 3 extraordinarily long, 

 reddish, anterodorsal bristles, 3 similarly long, postero- 

 ventral bristles, and with 4 or 5 shorter, posterodorsal 

 and posterior bristles, besides an additional row of 

 anteroventral bristles. The anterior femur is similar 

 to the middle femur; on the anterior tibia only the 

 anteroventral and posteroventral rows of reddish bris- 

 tles are exceptional in length. At the apex of the 

 anterior basitarsus and the following segment on each 

 side there is an extraordinarily long, basally stout, 

 reddish bristle. Claws slender, black, reddish at the 

 base. Pulvilli long. 



