396 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 224 



mann (1912) ; violaceithorax Lynch Arribalzaga 

 (1880) ; willistoni Curran (1930). 



Country unknown. Cerotainia xanthoptera Wiede- 

 mann (1828). 



Genus Amathomyia Hermann 



Figuee 2534 



Amathomyia Hermann, Nova Acta Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol., vol. 

 96, p. 34, 1912. Type of genus: Amathomyia persiana 

 Becker, in Hermann, 1912, by original designation ; descrip- 

 tion by Becker, 1913. 



The following is Hermann's description in translation : 



Head strongly widened or spread out in its breadth, the trans- 

 verse diameter more than twice as great as the vertical height. 

 The broad, somewhat protruding, lower face is more or less 

 uniformly extended or swollen from below towards the anten- 

 nal base. The medially indented (eingekerbten) orbital borders 

 diverge in the region of the front not nearly as much as in 

 Cerotainia. The mystax consists on each side of a series of 

 rougher bristles, and shorter hairs stand between it which 

 mainly take in the mouth border. The face bears on each 

 side a number of short, downwardly bent hairs. The front 

 bears along the eye margin and in the middle over the antennal 

 base a number of short hairs or short pile. Vertex of head 

 bare. The relatively low ocellar tubercle is armed with 2 di- 

 vergent bristles. The occiput possesses a few bristles only 

 on the upper half; lateral occiput weakly developed (Backen- 

 bart). Proboscis short, palpi very small. Antennae elongate; 

 first segment twice as long as the second, the latter com- 

 pressed, ribbonlike; terminal segment without terminal style, 

 and whose small toothlike spine is only seen in profile with great 

 difficulty ; this segment about one and one-half times as long 

 as both basal segments together. The short pilose first segment 

 bears on the under side a single, stout bristle, the second 

 segment is short setate. 



Thorax: The moderately arched mesonotum and scutellum 

 shining metallic, clearly punctured and with uniformly short, 

 appressed, lighter pile; longer, upright pile is completely lack- 

 ing. Pleuron with spotlike patches of pollen and short, ap- 

 pressed pile in the mesopleural region. Bristles : 1 presutural, 

 1 supraalar, 1 postalar, notopleural none. The metanotum bears 

 laterally some short, needlelike bristles. The shining metallic 

 colored, very grossly punctured abdomen is uniformly pro- 

 vided with short, appressed, light colored pile and one may 

 observe from above, the posterior rim of the seventh segment ; 

 lateral pile only a little lengthened; the first segment has 2 

 or 3 discal bristles, the others each 1 discal bristle. Sternites 

 bare. 



Legs relatively short and quite stout; each end tarsus con- 

 spicuously narrowed. The pile and bristles afford nothing 

 that is characteristic. Only on the posterior side of the 

 anterior tibia two bristles become conspicuous because of 

 their length. Brushlike pile is poorly developed. The ciliary 

 hair (wimperbchaarung) is limited to the anterior surface of 

 the hind tibia. Claws long, pulvilli relatively small. The wings 

 are very conspicuous by the presence of only four posterior 

 cells ; second and third posterior cells united with one another. 

 Stalk of subcostal cell long. The first posterior cell is very 

 clearly narrowed. The small crossvein stands over the border 

 of the discal cell at the distal third. This new genus possesses 

 special interest as it is the first Palaearctic representative of 

 a group until now only found in America and which is related 

 to the genus Cerotainia. 



Distribution: Palaearctic: Amathomyia persiana 

 Becker (1913.) From Baluchistan. 



Genus Cyphotomyia Williston 



Figures 267, 641, 1345, 1354, 2157 



Cyphotomyia Williston, Psyche, vol. 5, p. 257, 1889. Type of 

 Genus: Cyphotomyia lynchii Williston, 1889, by original 

 designation. 



Small, subcylindrical flies with the abdomen minutely 

 short pilose and strongly punctulate. Like Cerotainia 

 Schiner the first and third antennal segments are each 

 remarkably long and slender and the upwardly di- 

 vergent face and wide deeply excavated vertex are sim- 

 ilar. They differ by the greatly reduced pile and 

 bristles of the face, vertex and occiput in Cyphotomyia; 

 the occiput has on each side 3 or 4 stout, spikelike 

 bristles. Length 7 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect : The head is of moderate length, 

 strongly convex in front and also behind. The face 

 is short but the lower part is gently continuous and 

 receding to the base of the proboscis. The lower front 

 and upper face are extended; as a result the face is 

 concave across the middle. The lower eye margin ex- 

 tends slightly below the bottom of the face. The 

 occiput is strongly swollen toward the middle of the 

 profile and bears on the swollen part a deeply submar- 

 ginal row of 4 short but extremely stout, black spines. 

 The proboscis is quite short, subtruncate, and rather 

 strongly swollen at base; it bears a few, stiff hairs 

 apically and a few longer hairs beneath the base. The 

 palpus is minute, bearing 1 or 2 long hairs. The an- 

 tenna is on a low protuberance above the middle of the 

 head. It is unusually long and slender; the first seg- 

 ment is nearly as long as the head and almost or quite 

 as long as the third segment; the second segment is 

 short and beadlike and bears in the middle a long, 

 black bristle and a second bristle below near the apex. 

 The third segment is quite long and slender with 

 scarcely a trace of dorsal incision and is without micro- 

 segments. The first segment bears a weak, moderately 

 long, bristly hair in the middle of the lower margin. 



Head, anterior aspect: The face is scarcely a fifth 

 the head width and distinctly convergent below. 

 Lower face on either side with 3 rather short, fine, 

 black, bristly hairs and this part of face very slightly 

 convex. The vertex is extraordinarily excavated; it 

 is deep and wide from anterior aspect and from a 

 dorsal aspect flared backward and widened still fur- 

 ther posteriorly, so that the eye is wide anteriorly, 

 very short posteriorly. The ocellar protuberance is 

 small but high with vertical sides but is placed on a 

 strongly swollen medial ridge; it bears a pair of short, 

 black, erect bristles. 



Thorax: The mesonotum is rather high especially 

 anteriorly and abrupt though anterodorsally rounded. 

 It bears microscopic, erect, short, stout setae borne in 

 shallow depressions, giving a roughened appearance, 

 as in the stratiomyid genus Eupachygaster; some of 

 these setae are so short as to be almost conical. Also 

 the medial portion of the anterior mesonotum is more 

 swollen. Supraalar region with 1 quite stout, short, 



