Article beginning on page 211.
Psyche 8:211, 1897.

Full text (searchable PDF)
Durable link: http://psyche.entclub.org/8/8-211.html

The following unprocessed text is extracted from the PDF file, and is likely to be both incomplete and full of errors. Please consult the PDF file for the complete article.

May 1898.1 PSYCHE. 211
DIPTERA FROM THE MESILLA VALLEY OF THE RIO GRANDE IN NEW MEXICO. - 11.
BY C. H. TYLER TOWNSEND, LAS CRUCES, N. MEXICO. The present section of this paper is to
record what appears to be the growing
occurrence in the Mesilla Valley, in
southern New Mexico, of species belong-
ing to the tachinid subfamilies Phasiidae, Gymnosomatidae, and Ocypteridae. As
pointed out in section I, Gymnosoma
was not known in New Mexico previous
to 1894, the only representatives of the above groups known before then being
several hyalomyiid forms (belonging in
the Phasiidae). Since 1894, Gymno-
soma has turned up more commonly;
and in 1897 both Ocyptera and, what is
more remarkable, Trichopoda have been
discovered for the first time in New
Mexico. These occurrences are very
interesting from a biogeographical point of view, and indicate the probable future occurrence and discovery in the Mesilla
Valley not only of Cistogaster (which is allied to Gymnosoma), but also of Xan-
thomelanodes, a member of the Phanii-
dae, which is the remaining one of the
four small primordial groups of Tachini- dae. The flies of these groups are, as a rule (excepting the hyalomyiid flies),
inhabitants of low moist regions in tem- perate and tropical latitudes. Their
occurrence in the Mesilla Valley points
to a spread of these forms from lower
moister regions up the valley of the Rio Grande into New Mexico.
PHASIIDAE.
13. T~*ic/;ofoda histyio var. W s a
Towns. One male, Sept. 3, and two
females, August 25 and Sept. 2, on
flowers of Solidago canadensi+ on the
acequia banks within the town of Las
Cruces, all collected by myself in 1897. These are the first and only specimens
of Trichopoda known from within the
boundaries of New Mexico, and their
discovery callsfor an amendment of my
statement on page 279 of the Annals
and Magazine of Natural History (Lon-
don), series 6, vol. xx, Sept. 1897.
The female differs from the male,
aside from the claw' and Irontal char-
acters, in the second segment being
without golden pollen, while the third is golden pollinose except the wide anterior and posterior margins.
The male has
the third to sixth segments wholly golden pollinose ; while the second segment is
yellowish except narrow anterior and
posterior margins, but not distinctly
pollinose. The coloring of the wings is
quite the same in both sexes. The male
front at vertex is hardly twice as wide as the distance between the two posterior
ocelli; while that of female is twice or two and one-half times as wide as this
distance. The third and fourth seg-
ments of male, and fourth segment of




================================================================================

212 PSYCHE. [Nay 1898.
female, are narrowly brown on hind
margin, showing the incisures.
It will be seen, by comparing descrip-
tions, that the present specimens have
(at least in the male) more golden
pollen on abdomen than the San Rafael
(Vera Cruz) specimen, thus indicating a
tendency toward still another variety.
GYMNOSOMATIDAE.
(9) GymnosomafuKginosa Desv. One
male, August 31 ; and three females,
August 30 and Sept. 3; all on flowers
of Solidago ca~zadeizsis on acequia banks within the town of Las Cruces, taken by
the writer in 1897. The number of
specimens previously taken in New
Mexico is seven.
OCYPTERIDAE.
(10) Ocj@!era ezdzeuor Walk. One
male, August 31 ; and one female, Sept.
2 ; both on flowers of Solidagocanadensix on acequia banks within the town of
Las Cruces, taken by the writer in
1897. Length, 10 to IO* mni. These
are additional to the specimen taken by
Cockerel!, August 5, 1897, on flowers of Bigelovia wr>'ghtii in the Mesilla Valley, and already recorded (Psyche, Dec.,
1897, PP. 149-150)-
Mr. D. W. Coquillett, in his ' I Revision of Tachinidae," calls this species 0.
carolmae Desv. I have no copy of
Desvoidy's Myodaires at hand to verify
this reference.
14. Ocyptera euchenor var. dosiades
Walk. One female, August 25, on
flowers of Clematis ligustia/o//a, on ace- quia banks within the town of Las
Cruces, taken by the writer in 1897.
Length, 7 mm.
This is not the dasiades of Mr. D. W.
Coq~iillett, in his " Revision of Tachini- dae," as it has the two pairs of marginal macrochaetae, as well as the smaller
apical pair. It is the form which I
have heretofore always referred to dos-
ides Walk. When Mr. Coquillett ad-
duces some evidence to show that
Walker's types of dosiades possessed no
apical pair of bristles, and but one mar- ginal pair, I will revise the present
determination.
DESCRIPTION OF AN UNUSUAL SAW-FLY LARVA BELONGING TO THE XYKLINAE.
BY HARRISON G. DYAR, WASHINGTON, II. C.
As far as I can ascertain there is no
Dalla Torre in his catalogue gives a
description extant of any larva of the note stating that Xyeh jdii lives on subfamily Xyelinae of the Tenthreclini- BetuZa alba, but without reference to clae. Cameron says in his monograph any description. that the larvae are without feet, and In the vicinity of New York there has



================================================================================