ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



467 



and posthypopleuron with considerable pile. Meta- 

 pleuron -with a wide band of long, bristly hairs. Meta- 

 sternvnn pilose laterally and below. Postmetacoxal 

 area membranous. 



Legs : The legs of moderate length but rather stout, 

 the bristles are comparatively reduced in number. Hind 

 femur and its tibia with a few, stout bristles dorsolater- 

 ally; the tibia has 2 ventrolateral bristles on the outer 

 half. The middle femur has a stout bristle near the 

 apex both anteriorly and posterioi-ly. The hind basi- 

 tarsus is short and stout, scarcely longer than the next 

 2 segments combined. Anterior and middle basitarsus 

 also short. The claws are characteristically quite blunt 

 at the apex and with the apex cupped. They are some- 

 what less blunt and stout than in Mallophora Macquart. 



Wings: The wings are of moderate length, with ve- 

 nation like Promachus and the anal lobe moderately ex- 

 tended distally. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is wide at the base ; the sec- 

 ond tergite is nearly as wide as the mesonotum; the 

 abdomen is comparatively short and rather strongly 

 tapered and the wings reach to the base of the termi- 

 nalia. The eighth tergite is quite short and reduced. 

 The terminalia is very similar to Trypanoides Becker a 

 subgenus of Promachus. 



Distribution : Neotropical : PromacJiina annularis 

 Fabricius (1805) ; barhieUinii Curran (1935) ; eraxoides 

 Curran (1935) ; nigripes Fabricius (1787) ; pilosa'WW- 

 cox (1937); pulchellus Bellardi (1861); U^apezoidalh 

 Bellardi (1861) ; ^rz'cAoTio^ws Wiedemami (1828). 



Genus Mallophora Macquart 

 FiGUBES 194, 729, 1369, 1378, 2206, 2231, 2429, 2431 



Mallophora Macquart, Histoire naturelle des insectes diptferes, 

 voL 1, p. 300, 1834. Type of genus: Asilus liomboides 

 Wiedemann, 1821. Designated by Coquillett, 1910. 



Mallophora has 1 subgenus, Megaphorus Bigot. 



Robust insects of broad and stout form and with ex- 

 ceptionally dense, moderately long, bristly pile over 

 certain areas. They have 3 submarginal cells; the third 

 submarginal cell and the basal part of the second are 

 quite narrow ; the second submarginal cell is normally 

 flared apically. Claws blunt. Length 15 to 30 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect : The head is of medium length ; 

 the face is short above and quite prominent below, 

 though the greater part of it is due to the recession of 

 the eye and the facial gibbosity is generally confined to 

 the lower half of the face and is seldom large or long. 

 The occiput is prominent throughout, especially below. 

 Pile of occiput dense and tufted below, abundant, more 

 coarse above and usiially without bristles on any part. 

 The upper eye corners may sometimes have 2 or 3 

 weak bristles. The eye is strongly recessive posteroven- 

 trally; sometimes this recession begins only on the 

 lower fourth; in other species it begins above the 

 middle of the eye. In any case the eye appears rather 

 high and short and sometimes is angular and pinched 

 below ; moreover, it tends to be greatly flattened antero- 



Text-Figure 33. — Pattern of distribution of the genus Mallophora 

 Macquart. 



medially. The proboscis is very stout, extenduig be- 

 yond the face, u.sually directed downward and with a 

 blunt apex. The palpus is of one segment but it is long 

 and prominent, frequently curved and always with nu- 

 merous, stout bristles ; there may be a trace of the basal 

 segment present. Antenna attached a little below the 

 upper third of the head and only moderately elongate. 

 The first two segments are ratlier short with bristly pile 

 ventrally, dorsally and laterally on the first segment. 

 The third segment may be long oval and only a little 

 longer than the first two ; or it may be distinctly longer 

 than these basal segments and a little narrowed at the 

 base and a little more narrowed at the apex. Micro- 

 segments are absent but there is a long bristle-tipped 

 style present; the length of the style is fi-om one to 

 nearly three times the length of the third segment. 



Head, anterior aspect : The face below the antemia is 

 from a fourth to a fifth the head width and rather 

 strongly divergent below. It is usually bare in the 

 middle and pubescent along the eye margin and upon 

 the cheek. The cheeks are long, the subepistomal area 

 is large and oblique and slightly convex. Upper face 

 with a few, slender bristles or bristly hairs laterally 

 near the eye margins ; the upper part of the facial gib- 

 bosity has both slender bristles and sometimes long, 



