INSECTS OF SAMOA 



Paet VI. Fasc. 4 



DIPTERA 

 EMPIDIDAE AND PIPUNCULIDAE 

 By J. E. Collin 



(With 7 Text-figures) 



EMPIDIDAE. 



Among the Diptera collected in Samoa by Messrs. Buxton and Hopkins, this 

 family is represented by four species of Syneches (Hybotinae) and one of Drapetis 

 (Tachydrominae). Both genera have a wide distribution, but Syneches is more 

 confined to subtropical regions than Drapetis. 



Syneches Walker. 



The Samoan species of Syneches are very closely allied, and belong to a group 

 having the hind femora only slightly dilated, without spines beneath, but with 

 3-5 shorter or longer anteroventral bristles, and wings with the stigma not 

 extending to the end of the marginal cell. The head is also more semicircular 

 in profile than usual, without the flattening of the upper part so conspicuous in 

 some species, and without any great difference in size, or sharply marked dividing 

 line, between the upper and lower facets ; the ocellar bristles are well developed, 

 but the ocellar tubercle is small ; the third antennal joint is longer than deep ; 

 the thorax is strongly arched, but the arch is rounded and not pointed ; the 

 disc bears scattered hairs, and there is a depression in front of the scutellum 

 with a pair of strong dorsocentral bristles at the upper end of this depression 

 and therefore some distance from the scutellum, this latter bearing one pair of 

 VI. 4 177 1 



