106 MISC. PUBLICATION 305, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
from vein Rs Fore femur black, the middle and hind femora gray tinged 
with orange; tibiae yellowish brown, the apical third of fore tibia black; hind 
tibial fringe mostly black; fore tarsus black, the middle and hind tarsi dark 
reddish brown. 
Abdomen above dark orange brown, with a median row of prominent white 
triangles on tergites 2—5 and a small spot on tergites 1 and 6; the triangles 
contiguous and that on first tergite expanding slightly anteriorly; venter light 
reddish gray, with paler incisures. 
Male.—Unknown. 
Type.—Female, in the collection of Ohio State University. 
Type locality—Lecompte, La. 
Distribution.—Delaware, Florida, and Louisiana. May 18 (Cody, 
Fla.) to July 28 (Rising Sun, Del.). In the United States National 
Museum, 13 females. 
This is close to melanocerus Wiedemann, but in addition to the key 
characters it is usually somewhat smaller, the frons is even narrower, 
and the median spot on the second tergite expands slightly anteri- 
orly to join the small spot on the first tergite. 
TABANUS MELANOCERUS Wiedemann 
(Fig. 48, B) 
Tabanus melanocerus Wiedemann, Aussereuropaische zweifltigelige Insekten, 
v. 1, pp. 122-128, 1828; Osten Sacken, Mem. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. 2 
(pt. 4, No. 4) : 440-441, 1876; Hine, La. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 93: 51-52, 
1907; Brimley, Ent. News 22: 138, 1911; Philip, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soe. 
31: 193, 1936. 
Medium sized; dark brownish, with a median row of large white triangles on 
abdomen; fore tibia bicolored; wing hyaline, the furcation with no stump vein 
or infuscation. * 
Female.—Length 16-19 mm. Eye bare, uniformly dark. Frons gray, often 
tinged with brown at the median callus and vertex, five to six times as high as 
width across basal callus, somewhat widened above; basal callus dark brown, 
higher than wide, nearly touching eyes; median spot a slender streak of same 
color joined to, and somewhat longer than, basal callus; subcallus yellowish 
gray. Antenna black, the first two segments and extreme base of third often 
tinged with orange; basal portion of third with a distinct dorsal angle, the dorsal 
excision moderate; annulate portion shorter than basal portion. Second pal- 
pal segment moderately stout at base, the apex tapering, cream colored, with 
concolorous and black hair. 
Mesonotum reddish brown, with thin gray pollen and lighter gray, pollinose 
stripes in usual pattern; prescutal lobe orange brown, with black hair. Pleura, 
sternum, and coxae gray, with some black hair on episternum, the remainder 
white. Wing hyaline, the costal cell only slightly darkened; cell R; extremely 
narrowed or closed, but not petiolate apically. Femora dark, the fore femur 
black with black hair, the others with some gray pollen and white hair; tibiae 
yellowish white, with concolorous hair except apical third of fore tibia, which 
is black, with black hair, and some darkening at apex of hind tibia; scattered 
black hair on pale portion of tibia, the hind tibial fringe black; tarsi dark 
brown. 
Abdomen above brownish black, with a median row of large white triangles 
and narrow, posterior, pale borders on tergites, extending forward at extreme 
lateral margins; pale spot on first tergite small; tergites 2-5 with triangles 
about equal in size, that on tergite 2 rarely extending to anterior margin, and, 
if so, only very narrowly, the others usually extending length of tergites;: 
venter grayish, usually with dark median patches, narrowed behind, on each 
tergite. 
Male.—Areas of large and small facets of eye sharply differentiated, the small 
ones reaching to vertex in a narrow outer border; frontal triangle black above, 
yellowish below. Coloration essentially as in female, but body somewhat 
darker and the median white abdominal triangles not so large. 
