HELEOMYZID FLIES NORTH OF MEXICO—GILL 565 
Remarxs.—Aldrich (1926) synonymized M. melaneura Garrett 
with Blepharoptera tristis Loew. I have seen Garrett’s unpublished 
notes which indicate that he, too, recognized the synonymy. I have 
examined the types of each species, and they are synonymous. I 
could not interpret the scribbled label on the type of Blepharoptera 
tristis Loew (Type 13203, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard 
University). The type of B. tristis Loew is a female; thus no com- 
parison of male terminalia of B. tristis Loew and M. melaneura 
Garrett is possible. 
Czerny (1924) separated M. tristis (Loew) and M. melaneura 
Garrett in his key to Morpholeria, claiming that in M. tristis (Loew) 
the mesopleuron was without hairs, whereas in MM. melaneura Garrett 
the mesopleuron had 5 or 6 hairs in the lower hind corner. Czerny 
apparently made an error in interpreting Garrett’s original description, 
which states, ‘“Mesopleura bare except 5 or 6 hairs below the disk.” 
Garrett’s “disk’’ is probably the anterior spiracle, for such hairs are 
found below the spiracle in the anterior corner of the mesopleuron. 
They are variable and of no value in species discrimination. 
Genus Acantholeria Garrett 
Blepharoptera Macquart, Loew, 1862a, p. 57 (part). 
Leria Robineau-Desvoidy, Rondani, 1867, p. 124 (part) —Aldrich and Darlington, 
1908, p. 77 (part). 
Acantholeria Garrett, 1921, p. 180.—Czerny, 1924, p. 107; 1927a, p. 37.— 
James and Huckett, 1952, p. 267. 
Acantholeria, Schroederella, Morpholeria, and Spanoparea have a 
similarity of chaetotaxy which makes them somewhat difficult to 
separate in a key, yet the distinctness of the male terminalia in each 
genus discourages any attempt to lump any of these genera. The 
relative length of the arista, by means of which I have separated 
Acantholeria and Schroederella from Morpholeria and Spanoparea, is 
admittedly a poor key-character because this structure is often broken 
in pinned specimens. Yet I feel that this character is as reliable as 
others which have been used to separate these genera, 
Acantholeria has been separated from Schroederella in other keys by 
the presence of distinct antennal grooves in the latter and by the 
absence of these grooves in the former. This character may be 
dificult to interpret, and I prefer to use the number of sternopleural 
bristles. Even when these bristles are broken at the base, their 
location is usually indicated by pits in the sternopleura. Although I 
would not consider this a character of generic rank, it will nevertheless 
serve very well to separate the North American species of Acantholeria 
and Schroederella. 
