TACHINIDAE OF AUSTRALIA 9 



of parts of the thorax and of certain wing veins. Some of the terminology used 

 by Colless & McAlpine is helpful for the taxonomist, especially their terms 

 pieurotergite and mediotergite for parts of the thorax that have not had satisfactory 

 names in the taxonomic literature, and these terms are here adopted (as 

 pieurotergite, for example, is a much handier name than the usual supra-spiracular 

 convexity of the taxonomist) ; on the other hand it is disadvantageous in taxonomy 

 to have to speak of the posterior pronota and in this case I prefer the time-honoured 

 taxonomic term humeral colli. In regard to the nomenclature of wing veins I 

 continue to follow the standard work on Tachinidae by Mesnil (1944) in preference 

 to the venational notation found in most of the more generalized works on Diptera 

 (including that of Colless & McAlpine); the main difference between these systems 

 that is of practical importance concerns the so-called fifth vein which Mesnil 

 (here followed) calls Cu x and which is known as M 3+i in other works (e.g. Colless 

 & McAlpine, 1970). 



The existence of many alternative names for different structures has made it 

 necessary to record the more important or frequent alternatives, and this has 

 been done in the glossary by entering the alternative name(s) when needed 

 (italicized and in parentheses) at the end of each definition. The alternatives 

 should be helpful in correlating the present work with that of other authors (for 

 example, by showing that the structures here termed parafrontals are those often 

 known as orbits). In some instances the German equivalents have been given so 

 that the English terminology used in keys can be readily associated with the 

 German terminology used in Mesnil's very important work on Tachinidae in 

 Lindner's Die Fliegen der Palaearktischen Region 64g (which contains keys of 

 great value on a world basis as well as for the local Palaearctic fauna). 



Many of the glossary definitions are accompanied by separately paragraphed 

 annotations that are designed to show, very briefly, the taxonomic value of the 

 characters for which the terms stand. In these notes examples are often cited 

 of particular genera or higher taxa in which a certain character condition occurs: 

 the examples are drawn from the Australian tachinid fauna, but most of them are 

 relevant to other zoogcographical regions as well. The annotations apply only 

 to Tachinidae and must not be read as applicable to other Diptera. 



The accompanying Text-figures 1-23 have been specially prepared to illustrate 

 the characters mentioned in the keys and as an adjunct to the glossary definitions. 



abdominal Tl -f- 2. The apparent first segment of the abdomen, formed 



compositely of fused first and second tergites (loosely, first segment) (Text-figs 91 



& 9 4). 

 acrostichal setae. The innermost two longitudinal rows of setae on the mesonotum 



(Text-fig. 4). 

 These may be absent or reduced (e.g. in some Phasiini, Minthoini) or 



represented by only the prescutellar pair. 

 antennal axis. An imagined horizontal fine through the head profile at the level 



of the antennal insertions (Text-fig. 14). 



