58 MYCETOPHILID^E. 



Genus PLATYURA, Mg. 



Platyura, Meigen, lllig. Mag. ii, p. 264 (1803). 

 Orfelia, A. Costa, II Giambatt. Vico. ii, p. 448 (1857). 



GENOTYPE : Meigen specified no particular species as the generic 

 type. Zetterstedt designated P. fasdata, Mg.* 



Head small, transversely oval, flattened in front; eyes oval, slightly 

 emarginate at the base of the antennae; ocelli three, unequal, 

 closely approximated in a flat triangle on the broad front, the 

 median ocellus smallest. Palpi incurved, four-jointed, the 1st 

 joint small, the 2nd oval, equal or shorter than the 3rd, the 3rd 

 and 4th cylindrical, the 4th longest. Antennae equal to or longer 

 than the head and thorax taken together, rarely shorter, arcuate, 

 projecting forward, cylindrical or rather compressed, somewhat 

 diminishing in diameter towards the apex, 16-jointed, the scapal 

 joints differentiated, the 1st cupuliform, the 2nd morecyathiform, 

 the flagellar joints closely sessile. Thorax oval, highly arched ; 

 scutellum small, nearly semicircular in outline ; rnetathorax arched. 

 Abdomen slender, in both sexes seven-segmented, depressed, 

 clavate, in the male somewhat cylindrical at the base, rarely wholly 

 cylindrical, ending in a forceps. Legs long, the femora somewhat 

 thickened, shorter than the tibiae, the tibiae spurred, with very 

 minute setae, one row on the inner side and two rows on the outer, 

 or the fore pair wholly without. Wings broad, with rounded base, 

 as long as or a little longer than the abdomen, decumbent, micro- 

 scopically setulose. Costa ends before tip of wing, subcostal cross- 

 vein present, placed half way between the humeral cross -vein and 

 tip of auxiliary veins, joining the latter to the 1st longitudinal. 

 Auxiliary vein generally very short, the 1st longitudinal ending 

 about the middle of the wing or a little beyond ; the 3rd longi- 

 tudinal begins at one-third or one-fourth of the wing, distinctly 

 curved on its basal part, thence nearly straight or gently curved, 

 its upper branch very short, oblique, and joined either to the 1st 

 vein near its tip or to the costa ; the 3rd and 4th veins coalescent 

 for a short period, the anterior cross-vein being absent ; the 4th 

 vein forked at various points according to the species, but before 

 half the length after quitting the coalescent portion ; the 5th 

 vein forked just before the posterior cross-vein which is always 

 placed at the proximal end of the coalesced veins ; the 6th vein 

 very long, nearly or quite reaching the wing border, nearly straight, 

 and sometimes more or less indistinct ; the 7th vein short and 

 indistinct. 



Range. Probably world-wide, though none appears to have been 

 recorded from Africa, and only one (vemista) from A sia. 



Life-history. The larva live in fungi and rotten wood, but 

 bevond this fact little seems to be known. 



* Dipt. Scand. x, p. 4077 (1851). 



