PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



issued l^jfv A-\)?M1 ^y ^' 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

 U, S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Vol. 104 Waihington : 1955 No. 3343 



FRUIT FLIES OF THE GENUS TOMOPLAGIA COQUILLETT 

 (DIPTERA, TEPHRITIDAE) 



By Martin L. Aczel ^ 



Introduction 



The original generic name Plagiotoma was proposed by Loew in 

 1873 as a subgenus of Trypeta, with obliqua Say designated as type, 

 but is preoccupied by Clarapede and Lachmann in 1858, in Protozoa. 

 The valid name Tomoplagia was proposed by Coquillett (1910, p. 615) 

 to replace Plagiotoma. The first attempt to bring together the de- 

 scribed species was made in 1914 by Hendel, when he hsted 20 species 

 and published the first key. His paper dealt with 16 new forms, 

 the others having been described by Say in 1829 (obliqua), Loew in 

 1862 (discolor) and 1873 (biseriata), and by Williston in 1896 (incom- 

 pleta). In 1918 Lutz and Costa Lima described three new species 

 from Brazil (jonasi, rudolphi, and trivittata) . The genus remained 

 untouched until the present paper except for the description of a 

 few new species by Curran (1931), Costa Lima (1934) and Hering 

 (1937, 1938, 1941, 1942). Hering (1941) published a partial key that 

 contained nine Peruvian species. 



In all these subsequent papers the authors used principally the 

 wing pattern and the black markings on the thorax and abdomen. 

 The late F. H. Benjamin (1934) was the first to describe the genital 

 apparatus in both sexes and the early stages of T. obliqua (S&j), 

 The writer (1950) included 30 species in his catalog of the family 

 as it occurs in the Neotropical region. 



In the present paper the writer describes 15 new and 12 already 

 existing species. Undoubtedly many more new species will be found 

 if aU the numerous morphological characters of these flies are taken 

 into consideration as in the present paper. 



• Fundacion Miguel Lillo, Universidad Nacidnal de Tucum&n, Argentina. , 



327017—65 1 321 



