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 Froggattumyia, 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 gonine 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 Tvigonospila 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 

