﻿210 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. loo 



Rachisoura^ in which maxillae are enlarged and spined. Thorax often 

 with spines. Abdomen and thorax with stellate hairs usually well 

 developed. 



Pupae. — Cephalothorax elongate ; hair 1 very long, simple or with 

 a few branches. Trumpets of variable length, inner wall well sepa- 

 rated from outer, at least basally ; uniformly reticulate. Abdominal 

 segments VII and VIII with hair A a large fan-shaped tuft with 

 barbed branches ; hair B simple and very long on segments IV to VI 

 or IV to VII; hairs C poorly developed. Paddles small, produced 

 on apex or rounded ; without terminal hair or conspicuous fringe, but 

 sometimes with very short hairs on posterior border. 



Tripteroides is a member of the Old World sabethines, which in- 

 clude also Topomyia and Harpagomyia. The latter are readily sepa- 

 rated from it because of the absence of a squamal fringe and because 

 of the simple antemiae in the male. The striking similarity of Trip- 

 teroides and Trichoprosopon^ a member of the New World sabethines, 

 has been noted by Edwards (1929), Lane and Cerquiera (1942), and 

 Lee (1946). The similarity is especially noticeable in the male geni- 

 talia and the development of maxillary spines in the larvae of some 

 of the members of both genera. Tripteroides is usually readily sepa- 

 rated by the absence or very poor development of postnotal bristles, 

 which are always well developed in Trichoprosopon. The larvae of 

 tlie two genera are constantly distinct in that Tripteroides always has 

 a pecten and Trichoprosopon never. In the majority of other char- 

 acters the two genera show striking parallelism. Lee (1946) has 

 pointed out that there would be little gained by the union of these two 

 genera, since the primary separation would be on geographical rather 

 than morphological grounds. There is little doubt that these two 

 genera represent the primitive sabethine stock. It is interesting to 

 note that, in the Old World, speciation has occurred principally in the 

 I)rimitive stock without the formation of very distinct genera, while in 

 the New World the primitive stock has given rise to several such spe- 

 cialized genera as WyeoTnyia^ Phoniomyia^ and Sdbethes^ in which 

 speciation has reached its peak. 



At the present time it is best to regard the large assemblage of species 

 in Tripteroides as one genus. With further work on this group, generic 

 characters may become more obvious and Maorigoeldia^ Rachisoura, 

 and Mimeteomyia may be separated from Tripteroides s. s. Edwards 

 (1932) divided Tripteroides into four subgenera: Maorigoeldia Ed- 

 wards, THpteroides Giles, Rachisoura Theobald, and Mimeteomyia 

 Theobald. Lee (1946) modified the definitions and rearranged the 

 species into more natural groupings using the same names, but he 

 was not able to place two species in any subgenus as defined by him. 

 Lee's groupings are on the whole satisfactory for the species of the 



