Asilidpe of Australia. 59 



JVeodioctria australis, (^ ? , sp. n. 



Type (male) from Sydney in Gibbons Coll. 



Type (female) in Brit. Mus. Coll. from Australl.-ij and 

 other males and females in Gibbons Coll., all from Sydney. 



A handsome reddish-yellow species with large black s[)ot3 

 on the thorax and the abdomen. Legs reddish yellow, the 

 hind pair largely black. Wings blackish. 



Length, cJ 15-20, ? 15-20 mm. 



Male. — Face brownish, covered with golden-yellow to- 

 mentum ; moustache consists of yellow bristly hairs round 

 the oral margin and continued above, but not reaching the 

 middle of the face. Beaid golden yellow. Palpi black, 

 with black hairs and a few reddish ones at apex. Antennce 

 black, longer than the head (depth), the tirst two joints 

 similar in shape, and almost the same length, with black 

 hairs and bristles below, the third joitit longer than the first 

 two joints together, with a short obtuse spine at apex. Fore- 

 head black, with a few black hairs. Hind part of head 

 bordered with strong reddish-yellow bristles, collar also with 

 same-coloured longer bristles. Thorax reddish yellow, the 

 large black spot covering almost all the dorsum produced 

 anteriorly, so that the shoulders are reddish yellow ; there 

 are three prsesutural reddish-yellow bristles and two similar 

 supraalar bristles ; dorsum almost bare ; a few short black 

 hairs are discernible on the median line, on shoulders, and at 

 sides ; breast-sides bright reddish yellow, with some yellow 

 tomentum. Scutellum same colour, bare, with a very few 

 short black hairs on dorsum. Abdomen with a large oblong 

 black spot on each segment forming a stripe, though each 

 spot has rounded angles posteriorly, and the first segment is 

 ahnost entirely black, its posterior border being reddish 

 yellow at the sides only ; underside almost entirely pale 

 yellow. Genitalia small, with black hairs and a few short 

 yellow ones. Legs reddish yellow, the hind femora black 

 exce{)t at their extreme base, and the hind tibiae black on the 

 apical two-thirds ; tarsi excej)t the first joint chieHy black ; 

 the femora are slightly incrassate, bare, with some very short 

 black pubescence; all the tibise with reddish-yellow stout 

 bristles and black short pubescence ; the tarsi with the same 

 bristles, the hind pair with some black ones. Wings blackish 

 grey, veins black, all the cells open, the fourth slightly 

 narrower at border and the anal cell very narrow at border, 

 the small transverse vein at the middle of the discal ceil. 

 Female identical, the pnesutural bristles one less in number 



