82 R. W. CROSSKEY 



(weaker than first post ia seta), subapical scutellar setae extremely strong and 

 divergent (with the apicals very weak and often absent) (Text-fig. 71), and the bend 

 of vein M forming an evenly rounded curve (Text-fig. 85) . Some forms occur that 

 do not completely fit with these criteria, but they are nevertheless very helpful in 

 practical recognition of the group; some forms may have fairly well developed 

 apical scutellar setae, and a very few (such as the Australian Paropsivora) have a 

 rather abruptly angulate vein M. The tribe is nearly cosmopolitan, and is well 

 represented in Australia and Tasmania (whence many undescribed forms exist in 

 collections in addition to the identifiable genera and species). The hosts of many 

 blondeliines are beetles or sawfly larvae, insect groups that much less commonly 

 provide hosts for the other tribes of Goniinae. 



Some of the Blondeliini with black coloration and slender elongate bodies and 

 legs are strongly reminiscent of the Minthoini and it seems possible that there 

 is a much closer affinity between blondeliines and minthoines than has been supposed 

 or that some forms are erroneously classified in the Blondeliini (e.g. the tropical 

 genus Eophyllophila Townsend). This genus occurs in New Guinea but has not 

 been found in Australia, but black-and-yellow forms of the genus Trigonospila 

 (which is evidently a close relative of Eophyllophila) are found in Australia. Other 

 blondeliines, such as Froggattimyia, have very much the facies of Sturmiini and 

 the existence of such forms as well as minthoine-like forms in the same tribe makes 

 it difficult for the non-specialist to recognize the tribe on general appearance; but 

 at least virtually all the members, whatever their naked-eye facies, share the three 

 main characteristics already noted. 



Another noteworthy character found in many blondeliines is hairing on the 

 propleuron. This occurs in several quite different groups of blondeliines, but 

 almost never in other tribes of Goniinae (in which the propleuron is bare except in 

 Hillomyia). It is therefore a useful rule-of-thumb when identifying Australian 

 tachinids that any goniine specimen with a haired propleuron belongs in the 

 Blondeliini. The Australian fauna is rich in forms with haired propleuron and 

 contains one notoriously difficult complex in which the supposed genera merge rather 

 imperceptibly into one another. This complex includes Anagonia and related forms 

 and is currently under study by Dr Donald Colless. 



Very nearly all species of the enormous subfamily Goniinae have the prosternum 

 haired or setulose (or at least one pair of prosternal setulae) but some blondeliines 

 are atypical members of the Goniinae and have the prosternum totally bare. In 

 Australia such forms include the genera Trigonospila and Zosteromeigenia, which 

 (excepting rare aberrant specimens of other genera) are the only Australian Goniinae, 

 apart from the sturmiine genus Blepharella, to have a bare prosternum. 



About half of the genera of Blondeliini so far known from Australia are endemic, 

 but this proportion is likely to rise when the fauna is better known. The non-endemic 

 genera occur widely in Eurasia and at least two (Compsilura and Trigonospila) 

 are found also in tropical Africa. Lixophaga is mainly a New World genus but has 

 at least two species (one undescribed at present) in New Guinea; the described 

 species, L. sphenophori, was introduced into Queensland and is apparently established 

 there. The New Guinea blondeliines have not been worked out, but the genera 



