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TWO NEW ETHIOPIAN LONCHAEIDAE, WITH NOTES ON 

 OTHER SPECIES (DIPT). 



By Prof. M. Bezzi, 

 Turin, Italy. 



Very little is known about the Dipterous Family Lonchaeidae in the Ethiopian 

 Region, notwithstanding the small extension of the group (almost limited to the 

 two main genera Lonchaea, Fallen, and Palloptera, Fallen), and in spite of its economic 

 importance. Some tropical or sub-tropical species of Lonchaea pass their larval 

 stage in fruits, in which they sometimes occur in company with Trypaneids, and are 

 often mistaken for them, being thus comprised under the same name of " fruit- 

 flies." 



The general aspect of the flies, as can be seen from the accompanying figure (fig. 1), 

 is not unlike that of the true fruit-flies, chiefly owing to the presence of a corneous 

 ovipositor in the female ; but they inay at once be distinguished by their smaller 

 size ; their dark and unicolorous bodies, which are mostly metallic ; their 

 unmarked wings, which have all the veins quite bare ; and by the frons, which lacks 



Fig. 1. Lonchaea plumosissima, Bezzi, sp. n., $. 



the lower orbital bristles. Moreover it must be recognised that the species of 

 Lonchaea show more resemblance to the higher Myiodaria, than to the Trypaneidae ; 

 they have been sometimes mistaken for Anthomyidae, and some care is necessary 

 to avoid confusing them with the species of the genus Ophyra. 



Even the maggots are very like those of the true fruit-flies, and require micro- 

 copical examination for their discrimination ; but as a rule, they are smaller and more 

 slender, and have the posterior spiracles more prominent ; the stigmal plates of these 

 spiracles are more rounded, are often beset with ramified setae, and bear a tubercle 

 inside ; the ventral or pseudopodial protuberances are less developed, much narrower 

 and less spinose. The puparia are also recognisable by their smaller size, and more 

 elongate and slender shape. 



Ethiopian Species of Lonchaea. 



While the genus Lonchaea is plentiful in the warmer countries of Asia and America, 

 from the Ethiopian Region two species only are recorded in the catalogues, both 

 described by Macquart. One of them, Lonchaea claripennis, is described as a small 

 fly of shining black colour, with short antennae and bare arista, with yellow tarsi 



(C507) e 



