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 
pleurotergite and mediotergite for parts of the thorax that have not had satisfactory 
names in the taxonomic literature, and these terms are here adopted (as 
pleurotergite, for example, is a much handier name than the usual swpra-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 calli. 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, and which is known as M,,, 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 zoogeographical regions as well. The annotations eee 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 T1-+ 2. The apparent first segment of the abdomen, formed 
compositely of fused first and second tergites (loosely, first segment) (Text-figs 91 
& 94). 
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 line through the head profile at the level 
of the antennal insertions (Text-fig. 14). 
