260 Records of the S.A. Museum 



Hob. Tasmania: Frenchman's Cap (J. E. Philp). Typo, I. 12174. 



In spite of the fact that the antennal flagella arc l)rokcn and that the wing- 

 venation is distorted by the atrophy of the winji', thei-c can he scarcely any doubt 

 that the generic reference as given is correct. Tlic peculiar shape of the head 

 and the strong transverse ridge on the lateral seh'i-ites of the ])ostiiotuin are 

 well-defined characters of Plusiomyia. The discovery of nearly aplei-oiis incnibcrs 

 of this genus is of exceptional interest. 



PLUSIOMYIA NECOPINA sp. nov. 



Female siibapterous; wings reduced to mere strap-like organs. 



9 Length, about 24 mm.; wing, about 5 -5 mm.; abdomen alone, 10 mm. 



Frontal prolongation of the head sliglitly longer than the i-eraainder of the 

 head, brown; basal segments of palpi more yellowish; remainder of mouth-parts 

 darker brown. Antennae (broken beyond the scape), first sca))al segment dull 

 yellow, tipped with darker; second segment yellow. Head with a light yellow 

 pollen; vertex and occiput with a consjiicuous dark brown area that restricts the 

 ground-colour to margins adjoining the eyes; this dark mark on the vertex 

 broadens out toward the occiput. Pronotum not so thin and plate-like as in 

 P. spiasigrada, brown, darker medially. Mesonotal praescutum light yellowish- 

 brown with three darker brown stripes; scutum brown, th(^ median area paler 

 (scutellum badly injured in pinning) ; postnotum light coloured, slightly 

 pruinose; the ridge on the lateral sclerites of the postnotum occurring in this 

 genus scarcely evident. Pleura pale brown, sparsely grey pruinose. Halteres 

 pale brown, the knobs darker brown. Legs with the coxae pale greyish-brown; 

 trochanters obscure yellow; femora light brown, more yellowish basally (the tips 

 broken). Wings bro'wn, short, and so narrow as to a])pear straj^-like; venation 

 so crowded as to be scarcely apparent ; the region of the arculus is beyond one- 

 third the wing-length. Abdomen obscure brownish-yellow, the tergites with two 

 parallel narrow dark brown stripes that are more or less interrupted, the space 

 between about equal in width to one of them ; sternites obscure yellow, the basal 

 half of the segments slightly darker, pleural memlirane darker broA\ni. Ovipositor 

 with the valves powerful, shiny dark brown; tergal valves slender, lying trans- 

 versely, the lateral margins feebly serrulate, the tips slightly expanded; sternal 

 valves very large and powerful, nearly black, much stronger than the tergal 

 valves, the two together ap])earing like a long acule point ; the sti-ucture of the 

 tergal valves is much like that found ir. the arctica group of the genus Tipula, 

 but tlie sternal valves are very different, lieing as large and powerful as any 

 other species of Tipulid known to the writer. 



Hah, Tasmania: Gladstone (J. E. Philp). Type, I. 12175. 



