THE TAXONOMY OF THE MUSCOIDEAN FLIES, IN- 

 CLUDING DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW 



GENERA AXD SPECIKS 



By CHARLES II. T. TOWNSEND, B. Sc. 



History 



When we review the history of the classification of any highly 

 specialized group of insects, provided it has attained a considerable 

 degree of popularity among systematists, we find it to exhibit a 

 well-marked series of oscillations between the two extreme- com- 

 monly known as bunching" and splitting. This is especially true of 

 the dipterous superfamily Muscoidea. 1 



The systematists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, ac- 

 cording to the work they did on this superfamily. mark alternate 

 periods of action and reaction which fall conveniently into five his- 

 torical epochs. 



Linne, Fabricins, and Latreille must be considered the pioneers. 

 The system they established was followed by their immediate' con- 

 temporaries. Very few others concern us here, but Geoffroy erected 

 the genus Stomoxys. and Scopoli, Rossi, and Panzer did some work 

 on the superfamily. As a natural result of approaching a quite new 

 subject, these early workers did not always grasp the real value of 

 characters. Largely because of the comparative dearth of material 

 in those initial days of systematic work, they did not clearly discern 

 anatomical values, and hence did not recognize many characters 

 whose worth has since been well established. 



Meigen introduced a new epoch in 1804, and considerably in- 

 creased the number of genera by splitting up the original ones estab- 

 lished by his predecessors. Collections had become richer in mate- 



1 It is to be noted that the superfamily Muscoidea, as herein restricted, in- 

 cludes but a portion of the forms to which the name was applied by it- author, 

 Mr. D. W. Coquillett. As now restricted, it includes practically the old 

 calyptrate Muscidae minus the Anthomyiidse, or the same group as that treated 

 by Brauer and von Bergenstamm — Muscaria Schizometopa, exclusive Antho- 

 myiicke. The Muscoidea is here divided into live families a- follows: (1) 

 CEstridse, (2) Macronychiida? (being a part of the old Dexiidae), (3) Tachi 

 (including the old Gymnosomatidae, Phaniidae, Ocypteridae, Sarcophagidae. and 

 most of Dexiidae as subfamilies). (4) Muscidae, and (5) Phasiidae (including 

 Rutilia and its allies). 



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