SYNONYMY OF ARCHISOLVA ENDERLEIN 
AND ITS PLACEMENT IN THE 
STRATIOMYIDAE (DIPTERA)* 
By Norman E. Woodley 
Museum of Comparative Zoology 
Harvard University 
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 
Enderlein (1921) described the genus Archisolva from a unique 
female specimen of a new species described concurrently, A. 
carinifrons. It was placed in the subfamily Xylophaginae, tribe 
Metoponiini. In the former category, Enderlein assembled diverse 
taxa presently considered to belong to several families of Diptera 
Brachycera. The Metoponiini contained stratiomyids included in 
two subfamilies in present classifications, the Chiromyzinae and 
Beridinae, which Enderlein grouped together because they lack 
scutellar spines. Archisolva has remained enigmatic to subsequent 
workers largely due to the lack of additional material. James (1975) 
was not able to place the genus in any subfamily as presently 
defined, on the basis of the description, and relegated it to an 
“unplaced genus and species of Stratiomyidae. 
I have recently examined Enderlein’s type specimen, and have 
been able to properly place the taxon. The genus Archisolva is 
congeneric with Salduha Walker (1859; new synonymy), a genus in 
the Pachygasterinae. 
Three characters that the type specimen shares with Salduba, 
which appear to be autapomorphic for the genus and are shared by 
all members of the genus I have examined, are: (1) the median, 
longitudinal frontal carina found in females; (2) the strongly clavate 
hind femora (Fig. 1); and (3) the elongate, narrow wings (Fig. 2; see 
also Enderlein’s Fig. 8, p. 187). The frontal carina may be faint in 
some species of Salduba, but at least a trace of it is present in all the 
females examined. In the holotype of A. carinifrons, which has the 
strongest frontal carina of any species I examined, this feature may 
be artificially exaggerated. The uneven drying of the eye surfaces 
indicates that the specimen was slightly teneral, and the lateral areas 
of the frons may be collapsed more than would normally be 
•Manuscript received by the editor March 22, 1981 
245 
