102 R. W. CROSSKEY 



13 Wing vein i? 4+5 with setulae confined to the basal node (numbering about five). 



Abdomen except for hypopygium entirely dark, blackish brown with thin overlay 

 of bluish grey pollinosity (in o* bright orange-yellow postabdomen conspicuously 

 contrasting to naked eye with the bluish black appearance of the preabdomen) 



melancholica Mesnil 



- Wing vein R i + i with setulae extending at least half way to r-m and usually almost 



as far as r-m (numbering at least eight). Abdomen tawny yellow or orange on 

 much of the basal half (except for dark median vitta) and sometimes also at the 

 apex, o* hypopygium not strikingly contrasting in colour with the preabdomen . 14 



14 Bend of vein M much closer to m-cu than to the wing margin and with an M 2 



appendix that is much longer than the distance from m-cu to the bend. First 

 abdominal sternite with pale brown hair and the venter of Ti + 2 with all hairing 

 brownish black. Abdominal T3 with a pair of very strong median marginal setae 



amicula Mesnil 



- Bend of vein M about equidistant between m-cu and the wing margin and with an 



M 2 appendix that is shorter than or subequal to the distance from m-cu to the 

 bend. First abdominal sternite and the venter of Ti + 2 with pale yellow hair. 

 Abdominal T3 without median marginal setae or with a small weakly differentiated 

 pair -15 



15 Abdominal T5 more or less uniformly black or dark brown and extensively and 



conspicuously pollinose .......... 16 



- Abdominal T5 shining tawny orange on the apical half or so and hardly at all 



pollinose .......... scutellaris Malloch 



[Running here is the ? holotype, and only known specimen, of scutellaris. The 

 species is only doubtfully distinct from lateralis and the character cited might 

 not hold true for the $.] 



16 Wing vein R i + i with the setulae extending almost to r-m . . lateralis Townsend 



- Wing vein R i+5 with the setulae extending only about half way towards r-m 



nigrohirta Malloch 

 [This nominal species is very probably not distinct from lateralis.] 



17 Scutal pollinosity usually conspicuously yellow. $ genitalia with apex of the cercus 



seen in profile in the form of a swollen recurved knob (fig. 28 in Zimin, 1954) 



picta Meigen 



- Scutal pollinosity pale greyish or yellowish grey, o* genitalia with apex of the cercus 



straight in profile ......... omega Zimin 



[The two species in this couplet are impossible to separate reliably on external 

 features but the o* genitalia are very different.] 



Tribe TACHININI 



This tribe contains relatively large strongly bristled tachinids that parasitize 

 larvae of Macrolepidoptera and are characterized principally by having the postero- 

 dorsal aspect of the hind coxa finely haired (except in the rare Palaearctic genus 

 Schineria Rondani). The general characteristics have been cited by Mesnil (1966) 

 and those features that pertain specifically to the Australian members of the tribe 

 by Crosskey (19736). The group is richly represented in the Oriental Region, in 

 contrast to Australia where it is rather impoverished, but there is a remarkable 

 dearth of host records for the Oriental area considering how large and obvious the 

 flies are and how prevalent the potential hosts must be: the only Oriental member 

 of the fauna for which substantiated host records exist is Cuphocera varia, a parasite 

 of Spodoptera army-worms (Noctuidae). 



