

TACHINIDAE OF AUSTRALIA 53 
calypter bare on the entire dorsal surface, only with the usual fringe-hair. Face 
without median ridge. Humeral callus with two or three setae. Palpi not so 
flattened. 2+ 3dcsetae . 13 
13 Abdomen with the tergites partially or ‘completely. fased on the dorsal bartace, 
sutures of the mid-dorsum largely obliterated. Scutellum rotund and nearly 
always with distinct preapical (dorsal) setae. Second costal sector haired 
ventrally. Fore tarsus not flattened. Robust forms with luteous or orange- 
red colouring and rather broad wings, and with a characteristic row of strong 
ad setae along the fore tibia.. : : . GLAUROCARINI (p. 59) 
— Abdomen without any fusion of the tergites and all sutures between the tergites 
complete and distinct. Scutellum slightly or strongly flattened and without 
preapical (discal) setae. Second costal sector bare ventrally. Fore tarsus, 
especially in 9, strongly flattened. More slender or very slender forms with 
mainly black coloration and long narrow wings, without a row of ad setae on 
the fore tibia : : : - : - : ; . MINTHOINI (p. 64) 
Tribe PALPOSTOMATINI 
This curious small group, which appears exclusively to parasitize adult scarabaeoid 
beetles, is very difficult to place systematically. It includes a small number of 
forms with rather pallid luteous or light reddish brown colouring that are found 
in Australia, Africa and the Oriental Region. It is far from clear how the group 
should be defined, and it is possible that some New World forms such as Eutrixa 
Coquillett and Eutrixoides Walton ought to be included within it; they appear 
to be very similar to the Oriental genus Eutrixopsis Townsend, which is normally 
placed in the Palpostomatini. Eutrixopsis, however, has a different conformation 
to the head than typical palpostomatines, lacks definite vibrissae and has the 
prosternum bare, and has a third pair of scutellar marginal setae, and it may be 
a mistake to associate Eutrixopsis in the same tribe as Palpostoma; but if this 
present association is correct then the palpostomatines may well have close affinity 
to the ormiines and to Myiotrixa (both of which have resemblances in the head, 
such as the long epistome and reduced vibrissae, to Eutrixopsis). The 
Palpostomatini have not been studied in detail and in the absence of a reliable 
placement they are here tentatively assigned to the Tachininae, though on certain 
features they could equally well be placed in the Proseninae (with which the host 
relations would certainly fit); Palpostoma itself, with its facial conformation and 
bristled prosternum, even resembles some Blondeliini, and it is not entirely fanciful 
to imagine some phyletic relationship to this tribe (as to some extent implied by 
Mesnil’s (1966 : 882) placement (under the name Palpostomina)). 
The type-genus Palpostoma is currently regarded as uniquely Australian, but 
this is almost certainly only due to the fact that the group badly needs study on 
a world basis. Comparison of material of the Oriental genus Hamaxia Walker 
(synonym: Ochromeigenia Townsend) and the African genus Hamaxiomima Verbeke 
has shown no differences of any significance from Australian material of Palpostoma, 
and undoubtedly Hamaxia and Hamaxiomima ought to be treated as synonyms 
of Palpostoma; it is inappropriate, however, to pursue this further in the present 
work and definite synonymy is not established at this time. (The African genus 
