ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



519 



bristles, 4 or 5 anteroventral, and 1 posterior subapical, 

 black bristle. Anterior femur with only a fringe of 

 long, yellowish, bristly pile ventrally on the basal half, 

 its tibia with a few, dorsal, black bristles and some 

 longer, posterior, yellow bristles. Bristles of the tarsi 

 black. Claws black but red at the base; the reddish 

 brown pulvilli are long. 



Wings : The wings are tinged with very pale brown, 

 the tliird vein forks opposite the end of the discal cell 

 and basally it is expanded entirely in front of the third 

 vein. Second posterior cell scarcely widened at the 

 base, stalk of the fourth posterior cell long, of the anal 

 cell short, base of axillary lobe subrectangular. Alula 

 large. Marginal cell strongly widened, mostly at the 

 expense of the subcostal cell. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is subcylindrical and not 

 very wide, it is brownish black in ground color, densely 

 covered with pale, yellowish brown pollen, which be- 

 comes conspicuously lighter along the lateral margin. 

 Sides of first tergite with 5 stout, quite long bristles, sub- 

 posterior margins of the second segment on the whole 

 outer third with a row of 4 quite long, stout bristles. 

 They are set at a considerable distance from the pos- 

 terior margin. Third segment with 2 or 3 similar bris- 

 tles, fourth segment with 3 or 4, fifth segment with the 

 same number, sixth and seventh segments with the same 

 mmiber, but somewhat more slender bristles. Sternites 

 with scattered, stiffened hairs and weak bristles pos- 

 teriorly on the last three sternites. The terminalia are 

 large and swollen, with extremely prominent, long, 

 broad, dorsally flattened, superior forceps, doubly 

 notched at the apex, the outer notch bearing some 

 spinous, medially directed black bristles and on its 

 outer margin 5 quite long, yellowish bristles. Gonopod 

 prominent, slightly divergent from the forceps with a 

 tuft of lateral, vei-y stout, long, mixed, black and yellow 

 bristles, 3 of each, besides other shorter, bristly hairs. 

 Hypandrium or ninth sternite quite wide but rather 

 short. The penis guides are exceptionally prominent, 

 forming high, laterally compressed, shining red, later- 

 ally furrowed, curved, flangelike processes, strongly 

 curved upward and slightly backward, leaving a cir- 

 cular opening from the lateral profile. The terminalia 

 are chiefly shining black, the apices of the forceps and 

 gonopods obscurely reddish. 



Type: Male, Alto Itatiaia, Eio de Janeiro, altitude 

 2000 meters, March 1914, collected by E. C. Shannon 

 and W. L. Gomes. Type in the U.S. National Museum. 



Genus Pediophoneus Lynch Arribalzaga 



Pediophoneus Lynch ArribAlzaga, Anal. Soc. Scient. Argentina, 

 vol. 15, p. 87, 1883. Type of genus : Genus without type. 



I give below Lynch Arribalzaga's description in 

 translation : 



Body moderately slender. Head of the usual form and densely 

 polllnose. Face appreciably broadened toward the mouth and 

 entirely without tubercle or gibbosity. Face not quite plane, 

 narrowly margined along the eye below the antenna. Face not 



at all hairy ; mystax composed of slight bristles in a row or 

 band about the oral margin and with 2 other elements higher 

 and much shorter. Front on both sides slightly setate. Vertex 

 a little narrower tlian the upper part of front and along the 

 margins with setate hairs. Ocellar tubercle prominent but 

 without large bristles, but with a covering of some setae. Ocelli 

 clearly distinct. Occiput sparsely hairy and with a series of 

 macrochaetae behind the eyes ; with a loose, scanty, soft beard 

 on the remainder of occiput. Antenna slender, of the usual 

 length, with 2 basal, cylindrical segments not quite equal in 

 length and sparsely setate ; with the third segment slender, 

 equal to the combined length of the other 2 segments and of 

 the usual form ; style of 1 segment, bare, subequal in length. 

 Proboscis medium size, slender and straight. Palpus as usual ; 

 sparingly pilose. 



Thorax as in related genera. Pronotum armed in front with 

 a series of bristles and scarcely hairy or pilose. Mesonotum 

 scarcely or slightly short setate, with lines of a few macro- 

 chaetae. Scutcllum very scarcely or slightly short setate, with 

 lines of a few macrochaetae. Scutellum very scarcely and very 

 minutely hairy, without bristles and lightly impressed on the 

 posterior margin. Metanotal callosity laterally shaggy with 

 some hairs in the middle. Pleuron not hairy ; densely poUinose 

 like the remainder of the thorax. Trichostichal elements 

 ( ?meta pleural bristles) in 1 row, composed of a few setae. 



Legs in length and thickness as usual and scarcely or briefly 

 setate and armed with a few macrochaetae. Metatarsus not 

 dilated or shortened. Wings of the customary form, with 2 

 cubital cells, with divergent branches arising from the forma- 

 tion of the fork ; one ends above the wing apex, the other below ; 

 frequently at the base more or less angulate and scarcely or 

 slightly appendiculate, at the same time ( ?other individuals) 

 rounded and entirely without appendage. Transverse median 

 nerve (crossvein) placed at the middle of the discoidal cell. 

 Fourth posterior cell with sessile appendix ; subcostal ceU 

 (cellulae subcostalis) sufficiently elongate and distinctly 

 curved in from below. Abdomen linear, slightly longer than 

 the wings, twice as long as the thorax; abdomen narrowed and 

 depressed and slightly convex above, the venter more or less 

 plane. Abdomen very short and sparingly setate and pilose, 

 the segments dorsaUy armed on both sides with some pre- 

 incisural macrochaetae. 



Copulatory organ of abdominal segments 6 and 7 equaling 

 the length ( ?of preabdomen). At the apex it is .somewhat 

 thicker or more robust, slightly hairy, with the valves of the 

 forceps convex, hollowed out or excavated within, contiguous 

 at the base. 



Apparently Lynch Arribalzaga was unable to com- 

 plete his Asilidae of Argentina, and a species for this 

 genus was never published. So far, no one has recog- 

 nized an asilid from Argentina which fits this 

 generic description. Probably such material will be- 

 come available at some future time. 



Nyssoprosopa, new genus 

 FiQUEES 770, 1418, 1427, 1442, 1451, 2251, 2279, 2381, 2416 



Type of genus : Nyssoproso-pa polUnosa, new species. 



Medium size flies with the head and face short. From 

 an anterior aspect the head is nearly circular. Abdomi- 

 nal tergites with subposterior sublateral bristles instead 

 of lateral bristles. Metanotum without pile. The base 

 of the second submarginal cell arises entirely above the 

 third vein, and the discal cell is strongly occluded by 

 the anteriorly convex fourth posterior cell. This genus 

 appears related to Lecania Macquart in many respects. 



