Vol. 5, p. 83-87. April 9, 1924. 



Occasional Papers 



OF THE 



Boston Society of Natural History. 



NEW SPECIES OF PLATYPALPUS OCCURRING IN 

 NEW ENGLAND. 



BY A. L. MELANDER. 



In order to facilitate the preparation of the list of New England 

 Diptera, the following descriptions of new species of flies of the 

 family Empididae have been prepared, based in part on material 

 collected in recent years in New England. 



Platypalpus coquilletti, sp. nov. 



Syn.: trivialis Melander, not Loew, Tr. Am. Ent. Soc. vol. 28, p. 216, f. 26, 

 34, 43 (1902). 



Body black, thorax pollinose, with yellow bristles, coxae and femora largely 

 black. Antennae black, third joint oval; front femora thickened, hind femora 

 and all tibiae yellow, front tibiae thickened, wider than the hind tibiae, spur of 

 middle tibiae strong, tarsi strongly annulate; posterior cross- vein short, located 

 beyond the anterior a greater distance than its length, the under side of the 

 second basal cell greatly bowed upward distally, the first posterior cell wide 

 near the middle. 



Type. — Male, New Bedford, Massachusetts, June 12 (Hough), 

 in Melander Collection. 



Paratype. — Bayville, Long Island, New York (Banks). 



Platypalpus cuneipennis, sp. nov. 



cf. — Length 1.75 mm. Black, with yellow legs, mesonotum shining; an- 

 tennae black, the outer joint short-ovate, one-half the length of the black 

 arista; cross-veins contiguous, anal angle much reduced, anal cell completely 

 lacking. Occiput lightly dusted, its hairs fine and sparse; vertical bristles 

 small; front polished, less than twice as long as wide; face one-half the front in 

 width, white pollinose; proboscis black; palpi large, decumbent, pale yellow, 

 with a single pre-apical hair. Humeri and extreme sides of the mesonotum 

 lightly dusted, dorsal hairs sparse, bristles small and yellow, lateral scutellars 

 short, median pair well separated; sternopleurae wholly polished; abdomen 

 polished, its hairs sparse, genitalia small, terminal. Hairs of the legs rather 

 long, front femora little thickened, middle femora with about fifteen setulae in 

 each flexor row bounded on each side by two or three yellow bristles; middle 

 tibiae three-fourths their femora, with a small black spur, tarsi becoming some- 

 what dusky apically. Calypteres, fringe and halteres yellow. Wings distinc- 

 tive in lacking the anal cell; veins piceous except at base, costa somewhat 

 thickened beyond the first vein, its last sections proportioned 4:3:1; third and 

 fourth veins nearly parallel, cross-veins at two-fifths the wing-length, basal 



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