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UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 24 



gent below. Subepistomal area moderately large, 

 oblique, plane and pubescent. The face has weak pile 

 laterally and along the epistomal margins and the 

 whole of the gibbous area is covered with numerous, 

 long, slender bristles ; those on the upper half are curled 

 and directed forward, the lower elements longer and 

 directed obliquely downward. The front is scarcely 

 widened but the vertex is distinctly narrowed. Sides 

 of front with a dense patch of long, fine, stiff, bristly 

 pile ; vertex moderately excavated with steep sides ; ocel- 

 larium moderately large, bearing 5 to 8 pairs of weak, 

 bristly hairs. Anterior eye facets only slightly en- 

 larged. 



Thorax : The thorax is pollinose on the mesonotum, 

 more coarsely on the pleuron. The mesonotal pile is 

 abundant, widespread, short, fine, subappressed and 

 setate. There is a wide, irregular band of aci'ostical 

 elements scarcely or not at all differentiated from suni- 

 lar lateral pile and dorsocentral elements. Humerus 

 with fine, erect pile and several, slender, bristly hairs. 

 The mesonotum laterally bears long, stout bristles con- 

 sisting of 1 posthumeral, 3 transverse notopleural, 4 

 supraalar, and 6 or 7 postalar. On each side is a widely 

 separated row of 7 prescutellar and 2 pairs of scutellar 

 marginal bristles. The scutellum is thickened and con- 

 vex, the impressed rim pollinose; it bears some fine, 

 scanty, long, erect pile. Propleuron with a dense, fine 

 tuft of pile. The pronotum has 3 or 4 pairs of stout 

 bristles. Upper and posterior mesopleuron and upper 

 stemopleuron with only a few, fine, erect, scattered 

 hairs. Pteropleuron dorsally with a tuft of fine, stiff 

 pile and 2 or more quite long, slender bristles. Post- 

 hypopleuron with 2 or more long, slender bristles and a 

 patch of pubescence; the metapleuron with 6 rather 

 long, stout bristles below and more numerous, equally 

 long, slender elements above. Metanotal slopes with a 

 considerable patch of stiff pile; lateral metasternum 

 with long pile; postmetacoxal area membranous. 

 Tegula pubescent only; metasternum laterally and 

 below with much pile; squama with multiple fringe. 

 Prosternum fused laterally. 



Legs : All the femora are stout but the anterior and 

 middle femora are distinctly thickened toward the base. 

 The hind femur bears dense, short, appressed, setate 

 pile dorsally, laterally and ventrally; medial margin 

 with considerable long, fine, erect pile ; the very stout, 

 long bristles consist of 2 medial at apex, with 1 dorso- 

 medial and 1 medial subapical bristle, and 6 dorsolat- 

 eral, 8 ventrolateral bristles, and a cluster of 8 medial 

 near the base. The tibia bears 5 dorsal, 4 dorsolateral, 

 3 ventrolateral bristles; apical circlet of 12 spinous 

 bristles. The middle femur has 4 stout bristles pos- 

 teriorly at apex, 3 to 6 ventral on the basal half and 8 

 long, stout, anteroventral bristles; middle tibia with 

 3 or 4 dorsal, 2 weak and 1 long anterior at the apical 

 third, 4 posterior, 2 long posteroventral, and 2 ventral 

 bristles. Anterior femur with 1 stout bristle anteriorly 

 at the apex and 1 ventrobasal cluster of 5 stout bristles. 

 Anterior tibia with 8 sliort dorsal bristles. Apex with 

 12 bristles. Basitarsus short and stout, as long as the 



next two segments together. Tarsi end in large pulvilli 

 and long empodium and stout, only moderately sharp 

 claws more or less curved from the base. 



Wings : The wings are subhyaline or tinged with 

 brown ; marginal cell closed with a short stalk ; the an- 

 terior branch of the third vein ends only slightly before 

 the wing apex. First posterior cell and discal cell but 

 little narrowed in the middle. Fourth posterior cell 

 closed and stalked; anal cell closed; second basal cell 

 ends in two veins; alula large, ambient vein complete. 



Abdomen : The abdomen is elongate, a little longer 

 than the wings, cylindroid and slightly tapered but 

 distinctly stouter than is usual for members of the Asil- 

 inae. First tergite moderately swollen laterally. Pile 

 of abdomen consists of moderately dense, fine, short, 

 appressed setae with some long pile on the firet tergite 

 and on the sternites. Bristles present on all the tergites 

 and sternites ; first tergite with 6 to 8 pairs. There is 

 a posterior, submarginal fringe on the remaining ter- 

 gites; the second to fourth tergites have 7 or 8 such 

 bristles and the remaining tergites somewhat fewer 

 bristles. The third and fourth have weak, lateral 

 bristles; the second to sixth sternites each bear rather 

 conspicuous bristles across the center and otliers pos- 

 terolaterally. The seventh stemite with 7 stout bristles 

 in each posterior corner. Males with eight tergites, 

 but they become progressively shorter from tlie second, 

 and the last two are quite short. The female has eight 

 tergites, the eighth nearly as long as the seventh but 

 shining and black and more or less incorporated with 

 the ovipositor. On the male terminalia the superior 

 forceps elongate and robust, extended straight back- 

 ward, curving to the midline with no dorsal space ; the 

 large proctiger lies almost recessed between. Gonopod 

 nearly two-thirds as long as upper forceps, robust at 

 base, tapering to a blunt point, also extended straight 

 backward. Hypandrium moderately well developed; 

 genital cavity open. Aedeagus concealed. Female 

 terminalia remarkably broad, short and obtuse, wider 

 than long, and consisting only of the ninth and tenth 

 segments; these bear ventrolaterally a copious down- 

 turned fringe of dense pile. 



Distribution: Nearctic: Antipalus comosus Hine 

 (1918). 



Palaearctic: Anti-palus kruperi Loew (1871) ; trun- 

 catus Loew (1849) ; varices Meigen (1820). 



Oriental : Antipalus kochi de Meijere (1913) ; pedes- 

 tris Becker (1925) ; wieneckii Wulp (1872). 



Genus Heligmoneura Bigot 



FiGUBES 333, 791, 1630, 1631, 2262, 2339, 2366, 2378 



Heligmonenra Bigot in Thomson, Archives entomologiques, vol. 

 2, p. 3.56, 1858. Type of genus : Heligmoneura modesta 

 Bigot, 1858, by monotypy. 



Medium size flies, characterized by the short, weakly 

 produced face, the reduced bristles and the remarkably 

 large, clublike male terminalia, most of which is due to 

 the exaggerated, superior forceps. This latter character 



