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UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 224 



PAET 1 



apex and 2 long, stout bristles laterally near the apex 

 in a row; ventrally it bears long, erect pile. The 

 middle tibia has extremely long, very stout, oblique 

 bristles in the dorsal and ventral rows, 3 or 4 dorsal, 4 

 ventral elements with shorter bristles, and 5 posterior 

 bristles. The apex has 2 dorsal, 2 posterior, 4 ventral, 

 and 3 anterior bristles. 



Anterior femur with 4 dorsal bristles on the outer 

 half, with long, slender, pale, erect pile below. An- 

 terior tibia with 3 long, ventral bristles, 6 posterior, 8 

 long, dorsal posterior bristles and 4 dorsal bristles con- 

 fined to the basal half. Apex with 7 long bristles. 

 Basitarsus with 2 long, posterior bristles and 2 dorsal, 

 divergent bristles. Second tarsal segment with equally 

 long, stout bristles. Claws sharp, divergent, strongly 

 curved at apex. Pulvilli nearly as long as claws. Em- 

 podium as long as the claws, and stout and sharp. 



Wings : The marginal cell is closed and stalked. The 

 veins closing the discal cell and fourth posterior cell 

 are offset by nearly the length of the upper vein. 

 Fourth posterior cell closed with a long stalk ; anal cell 

 closed with a short stalk; alula narrow; ambient vein 

 complete or ending at anal vein. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is similar in appearance to 

 Atomosia Macquart but much broader and as wide as 

 the thorax but not punctulate. Sides of the first tergite 

 with a fanlike row of 7 quite long, weak, widely spaced, 

 vertical, apically curved bristles. Sides of the second 

 and third tergites with a few, long, pale hairs but no 

 bristles. Dorsal pile of the tergites flat appressed, 

 longer and almost matted on the basal margins. Males 

 with six tergites of nearly equal length, and the sev- 

 enth triangular and quite short and less than a fourth 

 as along as the sixth. In the male only a minute, 

 linear edge of the seventh tergite shows from above. 

 Females with eight tergites, the seventh much shorter 

 than the sixth, the eighth liplike and largely concealed 

 beneath the seventh. Male terminalia small, well re- 

 cessed and concealed, and of the general type of 

 Atomosia Macquart, with an encircling arm from each 

 gonopod. Female terminalia sometimes visible from 

 above; it is thinned, gently convex, a little narrowed 

 and has a V-shaped, medial indentation giving the ap- 

 pearance of two paired protrusions. Sternites without 

 bristles and extremely short pilose. 



Distribution : Neotropical : Automolina chilensis 

 Hermann (1912). 



Genus Despotiscus Bezzi 



Figures 669, 1313, 1314, 1322, 1323, 2124, 2170 



Despotiscus Bezzi, Diptera, Brachycera and Atherieera of the 

 Fiji Islands, p. 42, 1928. Type of genus: Despotiscus 

 simmondsi Bezzi, 1928, by original designation. 



Quite small, short, compact flies; characterized by 

 the nearly aligned end veins of the discal and fourth 

 posterior cells, the chitinized postmetacoxal region, the 

 distinct bristles on the lateral metanotum, the absence 

 of tergal bristles but especially by the long, abundant, 



quite flattened, golden, scalelike pile, which is formed 

 in vertical rows on the face of the male with only 

 isolated, slender, black bristles on the female face. The 

 proboscis is quite small, cylindrical, a little constricted 

 near the middle and not as long as the face. The 

 mesonotal pile is strongly appressed, particularly in 

 the males, where it is golden and scalelike anteriorly, 

 and the dorsocentral bristles are well developed pos- 

 teriorly. On the third segment of the antenna, near 

 the apex, is a distinct spine close to the short, apical 

 microsegment, but not borne by it; this relates it to 

 the Afro- Asian genus Goneccalypsis Hermann and to 

 Opeatocerus Hermann. From Chymedax Hull it is 

 separated by having the normal number of posterior 

 cells. Length 6 or 7 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face is nearly or quite 

 plane to the eye on the upper portion ; the whole face 

 is plane except above the epistoma, where it is a little 

 convex and retreating and a small portion appears ven- 

 trally, due to the recession of the eye only. The eye 

 is of moderate length, only slightly narrowed below, 

 but strongly convex on the dorsal part with a moderate, 

 post ero ventral recession beginning at or above the mid- 

 dle of the head. Occiput moderately developed, espe- 

 cially medially, but quite obliterated dorsally. Pile 

 of the occiput fine, of only moderate length, and com- 

 paratively scanty. There are 8 to 10 pairs of rather 

 stout bristles on the upper half, all black; 5 of these 

 form a deep-set, irregular patch behind the vertex. 

 The proboscis is small, cylindrical, a little swollen at 

 the base below and truncate apically ; it is slightly con- 

 stricted just beyond the middle, especially below. Apex 

 with short, bristly pile; the base below and along the 

 sides has 7 or 8 rather stiff, bristly hairs. Palpus 

 minute, very short and cylindrical with apical, bristly 

 hairs; the number of segments remains undetermined. 

 Antenna attached at the upper fourth of the head; the 

 first two segments are quite short, of nearly equal 

 length, the first bears a single, isolated, long, slender, 

 ventral bristle besides a shorter, sublateral bristle and 

 2 or 3 dorsal setae; the second segment bears 1 long 

 and 1 short, ventral bristle and at least 2 rather long, 

 slender, dorsal bristles. A further difference between 

 male and female lies in the fact that the male face is 

 visible on at least the lower two-thirds and instead of 

 being nearly plane is strongly convex and more strongly 

 retreating below. 



Head, anterior aspect : The face below the antenna is 

 one-fourth the head width and barely wider at the 

 epistoma. Subepistomal area quite small, nearly hori- 

 zontal, concave and bare. Face densely but coarsely 

 pubescent, bearing in the male a sublateral, vertical 

 row of very broad, bandlike or scalelike hairs that 

 probably represent adjacent aggregation of separate 

 hairs. Additional, similar hairs occur over the middle 

 of the face; viewed laterally they are ranked in the 

 manner commonly seen on tarsi. The whole, present- 

 ing a rather matted appearance, extends well down and 

 beyond the proboscis. Lateral margin of the subepi- 

 stoma with 4 long, slender, golden bristles; these scale- 



