TACHINIDAE OF AUSTRALIA 67 



inconspicuous) pv seta; wing with only a few setulae basally on R i+i , veins otherwise bare; 

 cell R- open to the wing margin; bend of vein M very sharp and with a conspicuous M 2 spur 

 vein or fold; second costal sector bare or haired below; abdominal Ti + 2 excavate to its 

 hind margin; $ hypopygium usually with some rather long strong setae visible in situ; 

 sternites mainly or partly overlapped by tergites, but at least exposed at their apices. 



Tribe LESKIINI 



This tribe is in much need of a reclassification of the genera on a world basis, as 

 the faunae of the Old World and New World regions contain forms that are virtually- 

 indistinguishable yet have not been associated in the same genera. The rich 

 Neotropical fauna has been subject to excessive generic splitting, which has badly 

 obscured the relationships existing within this local fauna and has made it difficult 

 to relate the South American leskiines with Old World forms. This is unfortunate, 

 as even a casual comparison shows that species occur in the Pacific islands and 

 Australia, for example, that appear to be congeneric with New World forms. Bezzi 

 (1928) placed a Fijian species in Sipholeskia, and Curran's Australian species 

 Demotions certima is here placed in the same genus after comparison with the 

 type-species of Sipholeskia. Another of Bezzi's (1928) Fijian species, ' Rhinomyiobia' 

 minuta, is so closely similar to the Neotropical species Myobiopsis diadema 

 (Wiedemann) that it ought perhaps to be assigned to Myobiopsis Townsend or 

 one of the related South American genera, and the same comment applies to a small 

 unidentified leskiine from Queensland that is exceedingly similar to minuta Bezzi 

 (this species is run out in the key that follows as representing an unidentified genus) . 



In Australia and Tasmania the Leskiini are rather well represented, though at 

 present most of the forms are undescribed and for several of them it is impossible 

 at present to decide upon a suitable generic assignment. Six named and identifiable 

 genera occur in the area, of which two are non-endemic (Demoticoides and 

 Sipholeskia). The others - Apatemyia, Toxocnemis, Exechopalpus and Rhinomyobia 

 - are endemic genera not found outside Australia and Tasmania (a careful comparison 

 with Leskiini from other regions has shown that only Rhinomyobia has characters 

 fitting closely with any extra-limital forms). Bezzi (1928) placed two Fijian 

 species in Rhinomyobia, but Townsend (1939 : 300) is correct in stating that neither 

 of them truly belongs in this genus; it may here be noted that Townsend (loc. cit.) 

 is also right that Rhinomyobia transversalis Malloch is wrongly assigned to the 

 genus (this species, from Queensland, is undoubtedly congeneric with 'Rhinomyiobia'' 

 plumifera Bezzi from Fiji but there appears to be no available generic name to 

 apply to these species at present) . 



It is difficult to define the Leskiini with much precision, especially as the tribe 

 contains a few species in which the prosternum is haired, or the propleuron is haired, 

 and seemingly closely allied forms may or may not possess a pv apical seta on the 

 hind tibia, and differ in the arrangement of the scutellar bristling. Typically, 

 however, the tribe includes rather slender long-legged forms in which the epistome 

 is projecting, the arista long-pubescent or plumose, the eyes bare, the post dc setae 

 number three, the mediotergite lacks infrasquamal hairs, the scutellum has only two 



