ROBBER FLIES OF THE WORLD 



541 



basal cell ends in three veins, the middle vein short, 

 alula large, the ambient vein complete. 



Abdomen: The abdomen is comparatively i-obust, 

 nearly as wide as the mesonotum, the sides of the first 

 tergite somewhat swollen laterally. Sides of the first 

 tergite with 3 or 4 long and 3 short bristles; sides of 

 the male tergites with rather long, stiff, bristly pile, 

 only a little shorter dorsally; it is quite abundant 

 and suberect, distinct bristles being absent on these 

 tergites ; the end of the rather long, second tergite has 

 a rather wide, pollinose, apilose posterior membrane 

 and the whole basal two-fifths of this tergite is polli- 

 nose and apilose; pollen extends over the entire ab- 

 domen. In the female the abdominal pile is very much 

 shorter and quite fine, appressed and setate, the lateral 

 fringes of stiff, bristly pile as well as the dense, short, 

 dorsal pile absent, replaced over the whole surface by 

 the very fine, appressed pile. The posterior lateral 

 margins of the female tergites have rather distinct, 

 slender bristles, 4 or 5 on the second and third tergites 

 and 3 to 5 on remaining tergites. Male with seven well 

 developed tergites. The eighth tergite is virtually eli- 

 minated dorsally ; it is perhaps narrowly visible though 

 hidden by dense, bristly pile and it is very short 

 laterally, where it is perhaps an eighth the length of 

 the seventh tergite. Seventh tergite about half as long 

 as the sixth. Females with seven tergites, the eighth 

 incorporated in the ovipositor. 



Male terminalia comparatively large, elongate; the 

 superior forceps bifurcate dorsally beyond the middle, 

 curved towards the midline apically and not rotate, and 

 with large, open space from dorsal aspect. Gonopod 

 quite short; hypandrium very short or concealed. 

 Proctiger erect and protruding; whole cavity of the 

 terminalia widely open from below. Female terminalia 

 short, the eighth tergite rather wide and quite cylin- 

 drical or bluntly conoidal dorsally but compressed be- 

 low on the eighth sternite. Ninth and tenth tergites 

 short and directed downward against the end of the 

 eighth sternite, much as in Senoprosopis Macquart. 

 The ninth tergite is exceptionally short. Sternites with 

 rather long, bristly pile in the male; with short, fine 

 setae in the female and some terminal, stout, but short 

 bristles. 



Distribution : Oriental : Hoplopheromerus armatipes 

 Macquart (1855) [=sAaZwmws Walker (1857)]; hirti- 

 ventris Becker (1925). 



Genus Clephydroneura Becker 



FiouEES 318, 758, 1497, 1506, 2261, 2301, 2483, 2486 



Clephydroneura Becker, Ent. Mitt., vol. 14, p. 68, 1925. Type of 

 genus : Asilus xanthopus Wiedemann, 1819. Designated 

 by Oldroyd, 1938. 



Medium size to rather large, pollinose flies with 

 greatly reduced pile. They have a high, short meso- 

 notum, a high metanotum and prominent, conspicuous 

 male terminalia and the male wing is often greatly ex- 



panded and rippled anteriorly. These flics are often 

 pale yellow but some species are dark or blackish. They 

 may be related to the Etliiopian Synolcm Loew, from 

 which (hey are readily separated by the presence of the 

 metanotal patch of bristly hairs. There is a moderate 

 extension of the face but it is confined to the region 

 immediately above the epistoma, leaving the upper part 

 plane with the eye margin, or slightly concave; face 

 bristles or pile tends to be confined to a group of strong 

 elements above the epistoma and confined to the lower 

 half of tlie face or less than half. Mesonotum and legs 

 relatively bare except for the bristles. The male 

 terminalia large and prominent and rather charac- 

 teristic. From Heligmoneura Bigot it is readily sepa- 

 rated by the posteriorly occluded discal cell and type of 

 terminalia. Length 20 to 25 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect: The face is scarcely visible in 

 profile on the upper half, but has a low, conspicuous 

 gibbosity on the lower part. Eyes scarcely recessed 

 posteroventrally. The occiput is narrow, a little more 

 thickened near the vertex; the pile is fine, long and 

 scanty through the middle, somewhat more abundant 

 below and bristles are restricted to the upper eye cor- 

 ners and consist of 3 or 4 short, slender bristles. The 

 proboscis is slender, moderately long and at most slight- 

 ly thickened towards the base; the apex is bluntly 

 rounded and bears a few, fine hairs. Ventral surface 

 below with numerous, fine, long hairs. Palpus slender, 

 cylindrical, of 1 segment with a few, stiff, apical hairs 

 and fine pile except medially. The antenna attached at 

 the upper third of the head and unusually slender ; the 

 first segment is elongate and 21^ times as long as the 

 second. Third segment short and slender or oval and 

 only two-thirds as long as the first segment ; it bears a 

 short microsegment and a long, slender style with apical 

 bristle and this style is as long as the entire first three 

 segments. Pile of first segment composed of unusually 

 stiff, long, sharp, subappressed setae, 5 or 6 dorsal ele- 

 ments, more numerous elements below ; second segment 

 with 4 or 5 setae dorsally and about 6 ventrally ; third 

 segment with 1 or more setae dorsally. 



Head, anterior aspect : The face below the antenna is 

 about a sixth of head width and slightly divergent be- 

 low. Face densely micropubescent, the subepistomal 

 region large, long, oblique, very deeply concave and 

 pubescent. The face bears very little pile ; there are a 

 few hairs intermixed with numerous, quite long bristles 

 on the gibbosity. Upper bristles slender and directed 

 straight forward, other elements stout and curled down- 

 ward. There are 5 pairs along the epistomal margin, 2 

 of which extend halfway down the lateral margins. 

 Front short with 7 or 8 bristly setae or weak bristles 

 laterally. The front is slightly divergent, the vertex a 

 little more convergent. Vertex deeply excavated with 

 vertical sides; ocellarium moderately large with 1 pair 

 of short, slender bristles and 1 pair of stiff hairs. Eye 

 facets strongly enlarged centrally. 



Thorax: The thorax is everywhere pollinose. Tlie 

 pile of the mesonotum is exceptionally scanty and 

 limited to a double or triple acrostical row of setae, a 



