C. T. Brues.
A Peculiar Type of Phoridae from Natal.
Psyche 17(1):33-36, 1910.

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Brues - Phoridae from Natal
A PECULIAR TYPE OF PHORIDAE FROM NATAL.l UNTIL within the last decade, the Phoridae of the Ethiopian region were practically unknown, but during this short period considerable interest in the group has developed among a number of entomologists, and many African forms have been described. Most of these belong to extraordinary apterous types, although several of the less spe- cialized genera have been found in widely scattered parts of the conti- nent. These few discoveries have shown the extreme interest attaching to the Phorid fauna of this region, and I have endeavored to include them in the present short summary, together with the description of an interesting new genus from Natal recently sent to me by Mr. Ernest E. Austen of the British Museum.
Twelve genera are now known to be represented in the Ethiopian region, several of them very closely allied, and probably not actually generically distinct, but all are included in the following table. Key to the Ethiopian Genera of Phidue.
1.
Wings fully developed. ......................................... .2 .......
Wings much reduced in size and venation, or entirely absent. .5
2. Third vein in wing furcate near the tip .................. Aphiochaeta. Third vein simple, not furcate. .................................. .3 ......................... 3. Head of normal form, with sloping front. .4 Head produced and squarely truncate above the antennae, forming a frontal shield. ................................... Coryptilomyia. 4. Anterior frontal setae proclinate, hind tibiae with distinct spurs Puliciphora, male.
Anterior frontal setae absent, hind tibia1 spurs minute; wings more hairy than usual. .......................... .Chonocephalus, male. 5. Abdomen of normal form, species often cockroach-like, apical segments ........................................ terminal in position. .7 Abdomen greatly swollen, the last segments very small and directed forward under the basal ones. ................................ .6 6. Antenna1 arista pubescent. ........................... Termitoxenia. Antenna1 arista loosely plumose. ...................... Termitomyia. 7.
Wings of considerable size, though much atrophied; no ocelli; proboscis long, geniculate. ..................................... Psyllomyia. ..... Wings very small or entirely absent; proboscis short or wanting. .8
1 Contributions from the Entomological Laboratory of the Bussey Institution, Har- vard University. No. 15.
Pu&e 17:3J-36 (1910). hup ttpsychu einclub orgt17t17-011 html



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Psyche [February
Abdomen with distinct segments, indicated by 4-6 dorsal plates or by evident constrictions. ....................................... .10 Abdomen with all the segments fused into a single plate or into two. .. .9 Abdomen with two segments, the first short, the second long. Thau matoxena.
Abdomen entirely unsegmented. .................... Terrnitodeipnus. Ocelli absent. ................................................ .ll Ocelli present. .. : .................................... Puliciphora. Abdomen entirely membranous. ..................... Wandolleckia. Abdomen with chitinous plates. ................................ .12 Body flattened, oval, cockroach-like. ................ Aenigmatistes. ................ Body more convex, with the usual tripartite form. .13
Dorsal abdominal plates wide, crossing the entire width of the abdomen. C honocephalus.
Dorsal plates much reduced in width. .............. Cryptopteromyia. Coryptilomyia gen. nov.
Female. Wings fully developed; costa long, weakly ciliate; third vein simple, bare, neither furcate nor swollen at the apex; first vein long; fourth vein curved parallel to the costa, ending at the wing-tip after a course much nearer the costa than usual; 5th to 7th veins distinct, complete. Head with the vertex prolonged in front, then sharply declivous on the front which bears a raised margin above, giving the front of the head a truncate, shield-shaped appearance. Front without bristles except for an occipital row of four and a similar series of much more delicate ones ,just anterior to these. Antennae subovate, with dorsal arista. Palpi short, scarcely bristly; proboscis very short, almost rudimentary. Body very robust, the mesonotum broad; scutel- lum strongly transverse, nearly four times as broad as long. One pair of dorsocentral macrochaetae and six scutellar bristles in addition to one close to each'lateral angle on the mesonotum. Legs rather slender, tibiae without macrochaetae, hind ones delicately setulose. Coryptilomyia armigera sp. nov.
Female. Length 3 mm. Yellowish brown or tinged with castaneous; pleurae and legs fuscous or piceous; abdomen almost entirely piceous, some- times yellowish medially at the base, the segments with narrow whitish mar- gins. Antennae and palpi bright orange yellow. Head seen from the side
less than twice as high as thick, sharp above then concave and sloping down to the upper edge of the frontal shield from which it falls off perpendicularly to the antenna1 cavities. Eyes large, bare, narrowly oval. Antennae rather large, ovate, with a nearly bare arista as long as the head height. Palpi short and stout, with very delicate bristles below. Ocelli large, ranged in a curved row and well separated. Viewed from the front, the head is about twice as broad as high, the margin of the frontal shield above almost semi-circular in outline, the margin below truncate medially and scalloped out on each side to



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19101 Brues - Phoridae from Natal 35
conform with the large antenna1 cavities. Post-ocular cilia very minute.
Mesonotum large and broad, considerably wider than the head ; at its humeral angles the propleurae extend far inward, so as to be visible from above as large triangular sclerites, each with the prothoracic spiracle near its center. Lateral margins of mesonotum with a fringe of stiff hairs. Mesopleura below the root of the wing with three macrochaetae. Abdomen of the usual form, with none of the segments elongated except the sixth. Legs long and quite slender, the anterior tibiae entirely bare, each with a microscopic apical spur; middle ones with a fringe of very fine setulae; hind ones with a row of rather strong Coryptilomyia armigera sp. nov. Female.
A. Wing; B. Side view of head;
C. Front view of head.
setulae along the dorsal edge, and a second one along the outer side; all four posterior tibiae with distinct spurs. Wings of ample size, hyaline with fus- cous veins; the costal vein reaching to the middle, its cilia very short; tip of first vein twice as far from the humeral cross-vein as from the tip of the third; fourth vein running nearly parallel to the wing margin, forming a very narrow cell and ending barely before the wing tip; fifth sinuous, curving forward on its apical half; sixth nearly straight; seventh curved, close to the wing margin. Halteres dark brown.
Two specimens from Durban, Natal, South Africa, 1909. (B.
Marley.)
Type in the British Museum of Natural History. Phora cochlearipalpus Speiser.
Berliner entom. Zeitschr., 52, p. 146. (1908.) Amani, German , East Africa.




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36 Psyche
[February
Aphiochaeta braunsi Brues.
Entomological News, 1907, p. 391. Cape Colony. Aphi ochaeta xanthina Speiser.
Berliner entorn. Zeitschr., 52, p. 148. (1908.) Kamerun. Psyllomyia testacea Loew.
Wiener entom. Monatsschr., 1, p. 54. (1857.) Cape Colony. Puliciphora africana Brues.
Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, 5, p. 410.
(1907.) German East Africa.
Chonocephalus kiboshoensis Brues.
Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, 5, p. 410.
(1907.) German East Africa.
Wandolleckia cooki Brues.
Trans. American Entom. Soc., 29, p. 392. (1904.) Liberia. Wandolleckia indomita Brues.
Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, 5, p. 412. (1907.) German East Africa. Cryptopteromyia jeanssoni Tragiirdh.
Zool. Jahrb. Atbh. f. Syst., 28, p. 229. (1909.) Natal. Aenigmatistes africanus Shelf ord.
Journ. Linn. Soc. London, Zool., 30, p. 151. (1908.) Victoria Nyanza.
Thaumatoxena wasmanni Breddin & Borner.
SB. Gesellsch. naturf. Freunde Berlin, 1904, p. 87. Natal.
Termitodeipnus andreinii Silvestri.
Redia, 3, p. 356. (1906.) Eritrea.
Termitoxenia havilandi Wasmann.
Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., 67, p. 601. (1901.) Natal. Termitoxenia jaegerskioeldi Wasmann.
Results Swedish Exped. Egypt & White Nile, 13, p. 16. (1904.)
Uganda.
Termitomyia braunsi Wasmann.
Zeitschr, wiss. Zool., 67, p. 611. (1901.) Orange Free State. Termitomyia mirabilis Wasmann.
Zeitschr. wiss. Zool., 67, p. 610. (1901.) Natal. Phora camariana Coquerel.
Ann. Soc. Ent. France, 6, p. 189. (1848.) Madagascar. This is not recognizable from the description and may quite probably not belong to this genus.




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