A. L. Melander.
Review of the Dipterous Family Piophilidæ.
Psyche 31:78-86, 1924.

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78 Psgche [April
REVIEW OF THE DIPTEROUS FAMILY PIOPHILID2E.l Pullman, Washington,
In 1917 in collaboration with Anthony Spuler I published a taxonomic study of the Piophilids in Bulletin 143 of the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station. This work was undertaken in order to facilitate identification in this group of insects many of which are of concern to man owing to their unsanitary habits of frequenting garbage. In the meantime additional collecting has brought to light several undescribed species which are herewith described together with some notes on the taxonomy of Piophda and a rectification of the identity of P. pusdla.
Key to the Species oj Mycetaulus.
Thorax wholly reddish yellow, or almost entirely so; abdomen more or less blackened.. ............................. .2. ...... Body almost wholly black; wings uniformly subhyaline .7.
2.
Occiput brownish; wings more than three times as long as broad; pectus, metanotum and an anterior spot on meso- .............
notum sometimes blackish. (Can.; E. U. S) hngipennis Loew
Head yellowish or rufous; wings three times as long as wide. ........................................... -3. 3. Anterior crossvein distinctly beyond middle of discal cell. . -4. ......
Anterior crossvein located near middle of discal cell .6.
4.
Costal cell blackened; ocellar area concolorous with head.. -5. .............
Costal cell hyaline; ocellar area black (E. U. S.) puZcheZlus Banks
5.
Costal area narrowly black from root of wing to tip, the apical spot excised in submarginal cell. (Or.) . .costalis, nsp. Costa not centrally blackened, the apical spot somewhat triangular. (Eur.; W. U. S.) ........ bipunctatus Fallen lcontribution from the Zoology Laboratory of the State College of Washington.




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19241 Review of the Dipterous Family Piophilid~ 79 6. One dorsocentral bristle; cilia of calypteres white; wings uniformly subhyaline; front tibiz yellowish; (W. U. S.) testaceus) n. sp.
Two dorsocentrals; cilia of calypteres brown; wings with narrow clouding at apex; front tibis brown. (Wash.) polypori) n. sp.
7. Pleurze) scutellum and end of abdomen reddish (Eur.) analis Meigen
'
Pleur~, scutellum and abdomen black) only prothorax and humeri yellowish; front yellow. (W. U. S.) . nigriteZZus)n.sp, Mycetaulus costalis, n. sp.
Male. Length 3 mni. Front reddish) occiput, face and cheeks testaceous, thorax luteous) abdomen black. Front tapering, slightly longer than width at anterior ocellus where it is twice as wide as at antenn~, posterior fronto-orbital strong. Notal hairs moderately scattering. Retracted genitalia black. Legs including COXE mostly pale yellow) last tarsal joint dusky. Halteres white) calypteres dirty? with black fringe; wings mainly clear hyaline, costa, first vein and end of second and third veins black) remainder of veins yellowish, anterior. edge of wing bor- dered with black which also borders the black tips of the second and third veins) costal cell wholly black) anterior crossvein about one-fourth the length of the posterior and located near two-thirds the length of the discal cell. Holotype, North slope of Mt. Hood: Oregon) 29 July) 1921) at, 3000 feet elevation.
Mycetaulus nigritellus, n. sp.
Male. Length 3 mm. Head bicolored) thorax and abdomen black, front legs partly black) wings uniformly but lightly brown- ish hyaline.
Upper two-thirds of occiput black continuing for- ward on the ocellar triangle and as. orbital stripes to the posterior fronto-orbital bristle, remainder of front luteous) face) cheeks and lower orbits pale yellow, lower setul~ indistinct) clypeus narrowly brown? antenn~ luteous) the upper part of third joint



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80 Psyche [April
brownish) arista blackish.
Pectus and the part of the pleurs
above front COXE brownish yellow) sometimes humeri brown, notal hairs minute and sparse) two strong sternopleurals. Base , of abdomen subshining at sides,. remainder of abdomen polished) genitalia small and retracted. Front COXE whitish) basal half of front femora yellow) apical half black) ten flexor setq base of front tibiz yellowish, remainder black) front metatarsi black) other joints yellowish, posterior legs yellowish, the hind femora distally slightly brown. Halteres) calypteres and fringe and root of wings whitish; wings rather pointed, veins brown) first post- erior cell two-thirds as wide as submarginal on the costa) anterior crossvein at three-fifths the length of the discal cell and one-third as long as posterior crossvein.
Female. Front tarsi wholly black) the metatarsus somewhat thicker than the other joints; ovipositor teret,e. Types. Lookout Mt.) Priest Lake, Idaho) 20 August) 1919, paratypes) Lake McDonald) Glacier Park) Montana; Moscow Mt., Idaho ; and Mtq . Spokane) Washington; July-September : fifteen males and six females.
Mycetaulus polypori, n. sp.
Male. Length 3.5 mm. Head and thorax testaceous, abdomen blackish, legs mostly testaceous yellow, the distal part of front femora and tibiz and the front tarsi blackish, wings narrowly blackened at apex. Antenn~ pale yellow) arista brown) .occipital black setulz conspicuous; front wider than long and two-thirds as wide at lunule as at ocelli. Thoracic hairs fine and rather abundant) bristles long) two dorsocentrals. Base and apex of abdomen and venter yellowish brown, genitalia small) with spiral yellow filament. Front coxz yellow, so-metimes the front femora lack the darkening at the apex. Halteres white) calypteres yellowish white) the fringe brown; wings yellowish hyaline, auxiliary and first vein) distal end of second) third and fourth veins and apical part of costa blackish, re- mainder of veins yellowish, a narrow blackish cloud following



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19241 Review of the Dipterous Family Pio philidce 81 the blackened portions of the veins at, the apex of the wing) an- terior crossvein at middle of discal cell and a little shorter than half the length of the posterior c~ossvein. Types) twenty-six males and eleven females) in the vicinity of Longmire, Mt. Rainier) Washington, July) 1922. The spec-
imens were taken disporting themselves on the underside of the shelf-fungus) Polyporus) growing on tree-trunks in the shady woods, They would not readily take to flight but were secured by suddenly blowing them into the net. Mycetaulus test aceus, n. sp.
Male. Length 3.5 mm. Head and thorax entirely testaceous abdomen black, legs yellowish with the front tarsi and apical joints of posterior tarsi black; wings uniformly subhyaline. Occiput dull) its setul~ black; front wider than long, its setul~ fine and black. Hairs of mesonotum very fine and abundant) black, only the posterior dorsocentral developed; abdomen truncate at tip) genitalia small) without processes. Calypteres
fringed with white hairs) halteres white; costa and first vein blackish) other veins yellowish at base, becoming darker distally, two apical sections of costa subequal) anterior crossvein very slightly beyond middle of discal cell, one-third as long as posterior crossvein.
Type) Moscow Mt., Idaho, 24 June 1919; two paratypes, Ilwaco) Washington, May and July,
The single dorsocentral bristle suggests Piophda were it not that the humeral and presutural bristles are strong as in Myce- taulus. Location in this genus is further indicated by the yellow body-color) two strong sternopleurals) long cephalic bristles and undoubted relationship to M. polypori.
Prochyliza brevicornis, n. sp.
Similar to P. xanthostoma in coloration except that the yellow of the face continues over the antennze across the anterior part of the front. This yellow portion of the front curves down.



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82 Psyche [April
The second antennal joint is about one-half the length of the third. There are three or four black set% on the lower part of the front COXE.
This is the form mentioned in Bulletin 143 of the Washing- ton State Agricultural Experiment Station, page 56, as super- ficially resembling Piophila aflinis. Insamuch as I have taken seventeen specimens all constant in the correlation of characters given above the form may be given specific rank. The localities represented are Yellowstone Park, several places, Flathead Lake, Montana, and Chicago, Illinois; all captured in July or August.
P, xanthostoma has the front entirely black and plane or convex to the lunule. In only one specimen is there any yellow color above the antenn~. The second antennal joint is extremely variable but always is longer in proportion to the third joint than in t'his brachycerous form. The coxal set= are present in the male but are undeveloped in the female. In Piophila afinis the venter of the male is shaggy with black hair, which is not the case in Prochyliza.
Subgenera of Piophila.
The genus Piophila was based on P. casei as genotype but the inclusion of many subsequently described species has caused it to become heterogeneous. In line with the present tendency to recognize finer distinctions Hendel in 1917 segregated the genus ~llo~i~~hila from the group) basing it entirely on ch=to- tactic characters. Piophila casei and a few of its congeners are markedly different from the majority of the species left in Pio- phila.
Removal of the species grouped with P. casei and the separation of those in Allopiophila makes it necessary to revive Lioy's name Stearibia) founded on foveolata Mg.=nigriceps Mg. As the size of bristles is quite variable the diagnostic characters have only relative and not absolute value. Hence it is premature to assign more than subgeneric rank to these names. In order to show the relationships of the species of Pzophila with reference to the divisions into subgenera and to facilitate identification of several new forms the following table is presented.



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19241 Review of the Dipterous Family Piophilidce 83 Five species not represented in my collection are omitted since their descriptions are too brief to show phyletic location in the key. The omitted species are : P. concolor, a red species probably a Cordylurid; nitens, perhaps a Pseudodinia; senexens, vaguely recorded by Macquart in 1851 as from North America and not since recognized, possibly not Piophila since it is gray pubescent; and the Greenland hairy species pilosu and nigerrima. Key to the Subgenera and Species of Piophila. Mesonotum finely scabrous, centrally not pubescent but with three rows of setulse, one in the middle and one on each dorsocentral row; fronto-orbital, humeral, presutural and sternopleural bristles undeveloped; ocellar bristles small, widely distant and located opposite the front ocellus, the ocellar triangle differentiated as a shining space on the -
satiny front; vertical bristles small; mesopleurse sparsely hairy; pygidium transverse, retracted within the fifth segment and asymmetrically excised toward the right side; cheeks more than half the eye-height; second and third joints of front tarsi subequal to metatarsus. Subgenus Piophila Fallen, s. str. Genotype and only American . species, cosmopolitan. casei Linn.
Mesonotum smoothly polished and uniformly pubescent; ocellar bristles located behind the front ocellus; cheeks less than half the eye-height; sternopleural bristles usually present, though small; front metatarsi longer than two following joints together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2. 2 Fronto-orbital, humeral and presutural bristles minute or wanting; mesopleurse usually sparsely hairy; pygidium re- tracted and cleft toward the right side, i. e. the sixth segment displaced : lower occiput black or blackish, with a pruinose vertical stripe below the eyes abruptly stopping in a vertical line on the cheeks. (if occiput is shining, front blackened on upper three fourths, legs mostly black, and antennae dark above, see Prochyliza brevicornis, n. sp.) Genotype P. nigriceps Meig. Subgenus Steuribia Lioy.. . . . . . . .3.



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Psyche [April
One or two fronto-orbitals, humeral and presutural bristles well developed; mesopleurse bare; pygidium pendant and extending forward under abdomen, the sixth seg- ment superior; back part of cheeks shining, no pollinose vertical stripe beneath the eyes. Genotype P. luteata Hal. Subgenus Allopiophila Hendel. ........ .9. Scutellum flattened and microscopically roughened; front entirely black and devoid of pubescence; veins thin and pale. (Eur.; N. Am.) ................. niqriceps Meigen. Scutellum convex and smooth; front more or less yellow or red .............................................. 4. Front coxae yellow. ................................ .5. Front coxse entirely black; femora black except knees, ..............
front tibiae blackish, their tarsi black.. .8. Venter of male heavily hairy; sixth abdominal segment large and convex; posterior legs in large part black; upper half of front black; hind metatarsi subequal to remaining joints together. ......................... .6. Venter with short sparse hairs; sixth abdominal segment of male not strongly convex; hind metatarsi shorter than remaining joints together; front yellow quite to thevertex ........................................ 7. Halteres yellow. (Eur. ; Mass., Ont., Wash.) . affinis Meigen. Halteres tipped with black.(Wash.).affinis, var.haZterataM.,S. Posterior legs yellow: cheeks, antennae, base of arista and mouthparts yellow
(N. U. S., B. C.) . . privigna, n., sp.
Posterior legs in large part black; cheeks, antennae, arista and mouthparts piceous. (Wash.). .. .morator n. sp. Mouthparts, cheeks, face, half of front and antennae yellow- ish; halteres entirely yellow. (Mont., Id., Wash.) nigricoxa M., S.
Mouthparts, cheeks, face and antennae black, anterior half of front deep reddish: halteres with blackened tip. (111.) .............................. occipitalis M., S. Front cox% yellow; yellow of front continuing as an M- shaped mark to vertex; at least posterior fronto-orbital .......................................... strong 10.




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19241 Review of the Dipterous Family Piophilidce 85 Coxse black; fronto-orbital weak. ................... .14. 10. Wings hyaline, veins yellowish ...................... .11. Wings with dark apical cloud, veins brown; abdomen closely and finely scabrous. (Mont., Ida., Wash.) Uturata M., S.
11.
Sixth segment of male abdomen pruinose; cheeks one-third eye-height; base of arista brown; propleural bristle strong .......................................... 12 Sixth segment shining; legs typically wholly yellow except tips of tarsi: cheeks less than one-third eye-height; arista black; propleural bristle weak. (Mont., Ida., Wash.). .......................... .xanthopoda M., S. 12. Front legs black except coxae and knees, posterior femora mostly black. (Mass., N. Y.) ............ oriens M., S. At least base of front femora yellow, posterior legs mostly yellow. ........................................ .13. 13. Legs almost wholly yellow; lower occiput yellow. (Alaska) setosa M., S.
Front legs black beyond middle of femora, excepting knees; lower occiput largely black. (Eur.; Wash.) pusilla Meigen
14. Posterior femora and all tibiae yellow, front metatarsi merging in color with remaining joints; front reddish toward antennae. (Wyo., Mont., Ida., Wash., Cal.) nitidissima M., S.
All femora black except narrowly at knees, first joint of front tarsi yellow sharply contrasting with black re- mainder : front entirely black. (Ida., Wash.) atrifrons M., S.
Piophila morator, n. sp.
Male. Length 2.75 mm. Front testaceous, vertex, ocellar triangle, upper orbits and occiput piceous black, cheeks, facej mouthparts and antennae brown, the antennae appearing velvety with cinereous pubescence; a vertical gray pruinose stripe be- neath eyes, cheeks at middle one-fourth the eye-height; base of arista brown, remainder black; interfrontal pubescence distinct



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86 Psyche [~~ril
but sparse and pale, bristles weak. Humeral, presutural and sternopleural bristles undeveloped, prothoracic bristle weak; hairs of meso- and sterno-pleurse present, propleurse heavily pruinose. Abdomen bluntly elliptical, ventral hairs short and sparse, pygidium retracted, cleft on right side. Front coxae yellowish, posterior coxae piceous, legs piceous except the yellow- ish knees and posterior tarsi. Halteres nearly white. Wings hyaline, veins pale.
Holotype, Pullman, Wa~hingt~on, May.
Piophila privigna, n. sp.
Male. Length 3 mm. Front light yellow up to the vertex, the small ocellar triangle and the uppermost orbits black, oc- ciput shining black, its lower sides with a white pruinose stripe extending from the eyes to the oral margin, face, cheeks, mouth- parts and antennae light yellow, arista brown, paler at base; cheeks broad, at middle one-third and at pruinose stripe one- half the eye-height; interfrontal hairs sparse and yellow, ocellar and postvertical bristles small, no fronto-orbitals. Thorax polished black with bluish lustre, no humeral, presutural or sternopleural bristles, notal pubescence uniform, meso- and sternopleurse with scattering hairs, scutellum convex, prothoracic bristle small, propleurse heavily pruinose. Abdomen polished black with blue lustre, the sixth segment displaced so that the retracted pygidium appears cleft, ventral hairs short and sparse. Legs light yellow, the distal two-thirds of front femora black and the distal three-fourths of front tibiae brown. Halteres whitish. Wings hyaline, veins pale yellow. Female. Front tarsi black.
Types, four males and eight females; Woods Hole, and New Bedford (Hough) Mass.; Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y.; Chicago, 111. ; Sheridan (Metz), Wyo. ; Potlatch, Ida. ; Pullman, Colfax, . Ilwaco, Wash.; Nelson, B. C.: July and August. This is the species recorded as P. pusilla in Bulletin of the Washington State Agricultural Experiment Station No. 143, p. 61.) under which name the other specimens there listed have been distributed among collections.
I Have taken the real pusilla at Olympia, Wash.




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