570 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 224 



that on the dorsal surface of the hind femur and mid- 

 dle femur and the anterodorsal surface of the anterior 

 femur the pile is rather matted, and although much 

 shorter than the pile of the remaining surfaces, it is 

 still long and coarse. Pile everywhere pale, brassy 

 yellow, except on the anterior tibia and the outer half 

 of the anterior femur and the dorsal surfaces of all of 

 the tarsi where there are numerous, long, black, bristly 

 hairs almost stout enough to be considered bristles. 

 All the tibia and the middle and hind femora have a 

 few, quite stout, long bristles. Hind femur with 

 2 such elements in the middle ventrally and with an odd 

 cluster disposed in a curve laterally and dorsolaterally 

 at the outer sixth, containing 6 such bristles and with 

 2 others dorsolaterally near the middle. Hind tibia 

 with 4 to 6 dorsomedial, 2 very striking dorsolateral 

 along the middle, and 2 ventrolateral bristles on the 

 outer half. Middle femur with a single very stout 

 bristle anteriorly on the outer third, middle tibia with 

 2 such stout bristles anterodorsally in the middle, 3 

 posterodorsally in the middle, 2 posteriorly at basal 

 and apical third, 2 anteroventrally on the outer half, 

 and 1 postero vent rally on the outer third. Anterior 

 tibia with 2 stout, distal, dorsal bristles, not very long 

 but with 1 long, very stout, striking, posterior bristle 

 at the outer fourth and with the posterior and postero- 

 ventral fringes of pile exceptionally dense and conspic- 

 uous on this tibia. Tarsi relatively short, the three inter- 

 mediate segments beadlike, the anterior basitarsus 

 barely longer than the next two segments, the hind 

 basitarsus long as the next three. Claws black, the 

 extreme base reddish brown; the long, wide, spatulate 

 pulvilli light brown. 



Wings: The wings are distinctly, uniformly tinged 

 with pale, brownish or greyish yellow. The villi are 

 exceptionally minute, almost absent on the basal cell 

 and all of the discal cell, except a small posterior tri- 

 angle near the apex. Base of the costa densely, long, 

 golden pilose in both sexes. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is as wide as the mesonotum 

 or even wider at the end of the fourth tergite in females, 

 and also wider on the first tergite. Abdomen shining 

 black with narrow, pale, brownish yellow, pollinose 

 postmargins to the tergites, widest on the second and 

 fourth tergites and with dense, long, bright, golden 

 pile, which is shorter and appressed medially, long, 

 tufted and erect laterally and becomes more conspicu- 

 ous just in front of the pollinose margins, because the 

 erect tufts extend farther inward at this point, and 

 this accentuates the golden, annulate appearance of the 

 abdomen. On the last two tergites of the male and 

 the seventh and following tergites of the female the 

 pile is almost wholly bristly and black. Male termi- 

 nalia polished black with numerous, slender, black bris- 

 tles on the exaggerated gonopods, wliich meet together 

 ventrally. The superior forceps have a very deep notch 

 somewhat as in Heligmoneura Bigot. Female termi- 

 nalia extremely short and consist of the ninth and tenth 

 segments only. 



Type. Male, allotype female, Silvan, Central Ecua- 

 dor, 3,400 meters, May 1949, collected by Z. Muller. 

 Also, 6 paratyjje males and 3 paratype females with 

 the same data. Types and paratypes in the American 

 Museum of Natural History, and paratypes also in the 

 collection of the author. 



Genus Tolmerus Loew 



FiGUEES 353, 778, 1474, 1480, 2299, 2340 



Tolmerus Loew, Linnaea Entomologica, vol. 4, p. 94, 1849. Type 

 of genus : Asilus pyragra Zeller, 1840. Designated by Co- 

 quillett, 1910, the fourth of four species. 



Rather small asilids, pollinose and short pilose with 

 comparatively short, tapered abdomen, relatively short, 

 facial protuberance and bristles confined to the pos- 

 terior half of the mesonotum and the notopleuron. Re- 

 lated to Machiinus Loew, and they are readily separated 

 in the male by the absence of a posterior liplike pro- 

 jection on the eighth sternite. Length 12 to 18 mm. 



Head, lateral aspect : The face has a moderately de- 

 veloped gibbosity occupying the lower two-thirds ; the 

 upper portion of the face is plane with the eye. The 

 eye is of moderate length, strongly convex anteriorly 

 and plane through the middle posteriorly but strongly 

 recessive anteroventrally on the lower third. The oc- 

 ciput is short but present throughout the entire length 

 of the eye, and more prominent below ; the pile is short 

 and scanty in the middle and becomes quite dense, fine 

 and rather long on the lower third. Occiput has in 

 middle 4 or 5 very slender, weak, pale bristles, replaced 

 in the type of genus by 11 exceptionally stout, though 

 rather short bristles on the extreme upper portion of 

 the occiput and which form a partly doubled row at 

 the upper eye corners. The proboscis is short, robust, 

 swollen or expanded only from the dorsal aspect and 

 then only slightly. The apex is quite bluntly rounded, 

 with numerous, stiff hairs above and below; the dor- 

 somedial ridge is low and confined to the middle, the 

 ventral fissure confined to the outer third and there are 

 a few, long, stiff hairs ventrally on the basal two-thirds. 

 Palpus rather short and cylindrical with the bristles 

 mostly confined to the apex and near the apex dorsally 

 and laterally. The antenna is attached just above the 

 middle of the eye and is rather long and slender; the 

 first segment is especially slender and not quite twice 

 as long as the second. The third segment is as long as 

 the first two combined, gently tapered beyond the 

 middle and bears a short, distinct microsegment and a 

 rather thick style not quite as long as the third seg- 

 ment ; the style carries an apical spine. 



Head, anterior aspect: The face below the antenna 

 is a sixth the head width and nearly double this width 

 below. Subepistomal area comparatively small, 

 oblique, concave and pubescent. The face is micro- 

 pubescent, with numerous, stiff, bristles over the middle 

 portion of the gibbosity ; these begin on the base of the 

 low, arched, dorsal ridge. All the upper bristles are 

 black and the upper central bristles distinctly stouter 



