ROBBER FLIES OF 0?HE WORLD 



515 



Schiner (1862) \^= erythrurua Loew (1849) not Mei- 

 gen]. 



Oriental: Cerdistus laetus Becker (1925). 



Australian: Cerdistus acutan^vlaris ISIacquart 

 (1847); arraatus Macquart (1846) \ = antilco Walker 

 (1849), elicatua Walker (1851)]; cdliginosus "\\Tiite 

 (1914) [=australis Ricardo (1918)]; claripes White 



(1917) ; coediceus Walker 1849) ; cognatus Macquart 

 (1849) [ = neoclanpes Hardy (1921)]; cygnus Dakin 

 and Fordham (1922) ; fiavicinctus White (1914) ; fra- 

 temus Macquart (1846) [=vulgatu8 White (1914)]; 

 fuscipennis Macquart (1838) [=a.siloides Macquart 

 (1849), coTistrictus Hardy (1926)]; gibhonsi Eicardo 



(1918) ; graminis White (1914) ; lividus White (1917) 

 margitis Walker (1849) ; maricus Walker (1851) 

 obumbratus Walker (1851) ; prostratus Hardy (1935) 

 Tusticatioides Hardy (1926) ; rusticanna White (1917) 

 separatus Hardy (1935) ; setosus Hardy (1920) ; sid 

 neyensia Schiner (1868) ; varifemoratus Macquart 

 (1849); [=volaticus White (1917)]; varimystacem 

 Macquart (1849) {^conformis Hardy (1926)]; vit- 

 tipes Macquart (1847) [ = lrunneus White (1914)]. 



Beling (1875, 1882) treats the immature stages of 

 Cerdistus geniculatus. 



Sobgenug Neocerdistus Hardy 



FiGUEES 327, 796, 1489, 1498 



Neocerdistus Hardy, Proe. Linnaean Soe. New South "Wales, 

 vol. 51, p. 646, 1926. Type of subgenus: Asilus acutangu- 

 laris Macquart, 1847, by original designation. 



Small asilids ■which, like Cerdistus Loew, are charac- 

 terized by the facial gibbosity being more or less re- 

 stricted to the lower half of the face and comparatively 

 low and inconspicuous. From Cerdistus they are 

 chiefly separated in the females by the presence of a 

 pair of sharp, dorsal spines at the tip of the last seg- 

 ment in the ovipositor. It must be regarded as a weakly 

 characterized group; similar female dorsal spines ap- 

 pear in one species group of the genus Nerax, new 

 genus, and have not received a separate name. Length 

 12 to 15 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face has a low, gently 

 rounded gibbosity on the lower half; the upper half 

 is plane with the eye. Eye of medium length, or per- 

 haps a little longer, strongly convex anteriorly, gently 

 convex behind and recessive ventrally. The occiput is 

 short, present throughout the length of the eye and 

 prominent below. The pile is fine, abundant and short 

 in the middle and rather longer ventrally, with bristles 

 present only on the upper third ; at this point there are 

 5 pairs of extremely weak, pale bristles, or bristly hairs. 

 Above there are 8 pairs of moderately stout, short, 

 black bristles. Proboscis short, widened or swollen 

 basally only from the dorsal aspect and then only 

 slightly. The apex is rather bluntly pointed with a 

 few, fine, quite short hairs at the apex and numerous, 



long, fine hairs on the basal half; a dorsomedial ridge 

 is prominent but confined to the middle. Palpus small, 

 cylindrical, slightly tapered at the apex and bearing 

 a few apical, lateral and dorsal bristly hairs. The an- 

 tenna is attached at the upper tliird of the head and 

 moderately long; the first segment is distinctly longer 

 than the second ; the third segment is not quite as long 

 as the first two combined ; widest subbasally and is then 

 regularly tapered at the apex with a distinct, rather 

 long, slender microsegment and a comparatively slender 

 style as long as the third segment and carrying an apical 

 spine. 



Head, anterior aspect: The face at the antenna is 

 a fifth the head width and divergent below. The lateral 

 cheek fissures are rather deep. The face is pubescent; 

 pile and bristles are absent on the upper half ; the gib- 

 bosity bears numerous, fine bristles; in a small, tri- 

 angular area just above the epistoma there is 1 row of 

 2 bristles and below it a row of 4 exceptionally stout 

 bristles, which are distinctly shorter than the long, 

 fine bristles above. Laterally the fine bristles extend 

 along the side of the subepistoma. Front .short, pol- 

 linose, with 5 or 6 slender bristles laterally ; the front 

 is very slightly divergent, convergent again at the ver- 

 tex. The vertex is deeply excavated with nearly vertical 

 sides, the ocellarium large, but of only moderate height 

 and bearing a pair of slender bristles across the middle. 



Thorax : The thorax everywhere micropubescent ; the 

 pile of the mesonotum is quite scanty, fine and bristly 

 with a double acrostical row of such pile and with dor- 

 socentral elements weakly developed in front of the 

 suture and consisting of only 1 or 2 pairs ; behind the 

 suture there are 5 to 9 pairs of long, rather stout, 

 dorsocentral bristles. Humerus with fine, long pile. 

 The following complement of long, stout bristles is 

 present laterally : 2 notopleural, 1 postsupraalar, 1 

 postalar, and 1 pair of scuteUar bristles. Scutellum 

 moderately thick and convex, appressed puliescent with 

 a deep, basal crease and distinctly impressed marginal 

 rim ; the disc also bears some long, fine pile. Propleuron 

 with abundant, fine, long pile laterally and ventrally 

 and 2 pairs of slender bristles on the pronotum. The 

 anterior stemopleuron and the dorsal stemopleuron 

 carry a number of fine, long hairs as well as some 

 minute, bristly hairs dorsally on the mesopleuron; 

 pteropleuron with 2 similar hairs, posthypopleuron with 

 2 fine, long bristles and several long hairs. Metapleu- 

 ron with a vertical row of 7 quite long, very fine bris- 

 tles. Lateral metanotal slopes micropubescent only; 

 lateral metastemum pUose, the ventral metastemum 

 has numerous, fine, long hairs which are heavily chi- 

 tinized, the postmetacoxal area is membranous and pu- 

 bescent. Tegula pubescent only ; squama with a scanty 

 multiple fringe. 



Legs: The anterior and middle femora are a little 

 enlarged; the hind pair to some extent is compressed 

 laterally. The pile of the hind femur is dense, short. 



