Scaptia (Pseudoscione) adrel (Walker). Text-figs. 2, A; 3, A, G.

Pangonia adrel (White ms.) Walker, 1850. Type ♂ ♀, from New Zealand, in the British Museum (Natural History).

Scaptia adrel (Walker). Kröber, 1931, p. 61; Miller, 1950, p. 70; Mackerras, 1954, Fig. 7d.

Pangonia hirticeps Nowicki, 1875. Type ♂ ♀, from New Zealand, in the Zoological Museum, Cracow University, Poland (stated by Miller, 1950, to have been destroyed during war). Kröber (1931) considered it to be merely a lighter variation of adrel. I can find nothing in his notes nor transcript of Nowicki's description to separate the two.

Material Examined: 47 ♂ ♂, 13 ♀ ♀, including specimens returned by Mr. Oldroyd as agreeing with the types in the British Museum.

A large to medium sized, black species, with cream thoracic and abdominal hair tufts, dark brown to black legs, black hairs on hind tibiae, and the wings more or less darkened, especially anteriorly. Length, 12–16 mm.

♀. Head: Eyes with long, dense, brown hairs, darker above, paler below. Frons relatively narrow (index 4.5 to 6), yellowish fawn above, more creamy fawn below, sometimes irregularly suffused with brown, and with fine brown hairs; ocellar tubercle

Fig. 3.—Scaptia. A-F, frons of ♀ of: A, adrel (Walk.); B, lerda (Walk.); C, ricardoae (Hutt.); D, brevipalpis Kröb.; E, milleri, sp. nov.; F, montana (Hutt.). G-J, palp of ♀ (above) and ♀ (below) of: G, adrel; H, lerda; I, brevipalpis; J, milleri (normal ♀, variant ♂). K-M, montana: antenna of ♀, palp of ♀, palp of ♂. N, palp of ♀ variant of ricardoae.

grey to brown, with a tuft of black hairs. Subcallus, parafacials and face creamy fawn; parafacials with creamy hairs; face with mixed yellowish cream and black hairs. Antennae: First and second segments with grey to dark brown tomentum and black hairs above, some yellowish cream hairs below; third dark brown to black, paler at extreme base. Palpi: First segment black, with cream hairs; second (Text-fig. 3, G) relatively slender, brown to blackish brown, with a large, orange-brown bare area surrounded by short black hairs. Beard cream to yellowish cream.

Thorax: Scutum dark brown, with some greyish overlay on anterior margin, and indications of paler median and dorsocentral lines and suture. Hairs mixed black erect, and brownish yellow appressed; marginal hairs black in front of wing root, cream above and behind it. Scutellum deep brown, with mainly dark hairs, except at lateral corners. Pleurae light greyish fawn, with cream to yellowish cream hairs.

Legs: Femora black, mid and hind with some greyish overlay; with black hairs anteriorly, yellowish cream posteriorly on fore femora, mainly yellowish cream on mid and hind. Fore tibiae and tarsi brown, somewhat yellowish basally, darker dis-

tally; mid darker; hind deep brown to black; hairs dark brown to black, except for a reddish to yellowish brown ventral zone.

Wings: Suffused with brown to a variable extent; sometimes almost completely, but tending to leave the discal cell clearer; sometimes with the brown tint more or less restricted to the anterior half of the wing, with some darkening leading back from the dark brown stigma obliquely across the apices of the basal cells. Veins brown; R₄ often angulate but with at most a rudimentary appendix; cell R₅ usually narrowed, sometimes closed, occasionally widely open.

Abdomen: Black, sometimes with more or less reddish to yellowish brown suffusion laterally on the first and second tergites. Hairs black, except for cream tufts in midline on first four tergites, on apical lateral corner of second, and lateral margins of fourth to sixth, leaving a dense black lateral tuft on the third. Venter brown, more or less banded with black, and with the apical edges of the sternites paler; hairs yellowish cream.

♂. Similar to female; but the brown colour at the side of the abdomen more variable, and often so extensive as to reduce the black on the first two or three tergites to a broad median vitta; pale apical hairs on second abdominal tergite usually restricted to a median spot, but sometimes extending as a fringe across the whole width of the segment. Palpi (Text-fig. 3, G) long and slender, brownish black, and with a narrow, elongate, brown dorso-lateral bare area.

Distribution.^* North Island: Whangarei, January; Parakai (tidal flats), December; Brown's Bay, near Auckland, December (on flowers); Rangitoto Island, near Auckland, December, January; Auckland, February; Mt. Tauhara, December; New Plymouth, August; Okato; Ohakune, January; Aramoho, Wanganui, December; Levin; Silverstream, Hutt Valley, January; Wellington, December, January; Gollan's Valley.

South Island: Trio Island, January; Nelson, December, January; Third House, near Nelson, December (reared); Dun Mt., near Nelson, 3,000ft, January, February; Tapawera, near Nelson, January; Waiho Gorge, South Westland, December; Upper Hororata, January; Otago.

Scaptia (Pseudoscione) lerda (Walker). Text-figs. 2; 3, B, H.

Pangonia lerda (White ms.) Walker, 1850. Type ♂ ♀, from New Zealand, in the British Museum (Natural History).

Scaptia lerda (Walker). Kröber, 1931, p. 66; Miller, 1950, p. 70.

Scaptia (Pseudoscione) lerda (Walker). Mackerras, 1955, Fig. 28, C, F.

Material Examined: 13 ♂ ♂, 12 ♀ ♀, including specimens returned by Mr. Oldroyd as agreeing with the types in the British Museum.

A large to medium sized, brown species, distinguished by its elongate palpi, reddish brown legs, entirely reddish brown hairs on hind tibiae, and bright golden thoracic and abdominal hair tufts. Length, 12–15 mm.

♀. Head: Eyes with rich brown hairs above, light cream below. Frons relatively narrow (index 4 to 5.5), bright brown, with a darker patch at junction of lower and middle third, and another around the brown to blackish ocellar tubercle; hairs dark brown, relatively sparse. Subcallus, parafacials and face yellowish to brownish fawn, with yellowish cream hairs laterally, brown ones on most of face, central area bare. Antennae: Basal segments light brownish yellow, with black hairs above and some pale ones below; third reddish brown, paler at extreme base, and darkening almost to blackish brown on apical four annuli. Palpi long and narrow; brown with an orange tint; basal segment with long creamy yellow hairs; second with an extensive lateral bare area, which is often turned upwards, and with short, dark brown hairs around its margins. Beard creamy yellow.

Thorax: Scutum dark brown, with indications of paler median and dorsocentral lines, suture, and lateral margins. Hairs on disc dark brown erect and dull yellowish brown appressed; marginal hairs mixed black and yellowish brown in front of wing, creamy gold above and behind it. Scutellum dark brown, with brown hairs on disc and mainly dull golden ones marginally. Pleurae greyish fawn, with creamy yellow hairs.

Legs: Bright to yellowish brown, the femora often somewhat darker than the other segments; hairs mixed brown and yellowish cream on the femora, more definitely golden to reddish brown on the remaining segments.

Wings: Similarly marked to S. adrel, but the veins are often more yellowish brown; cell R₅ usually narrowed, sometimes widely open.

Abdomen: Bright to mahogany brown, irregularly darkened in the median part of the first and second tergites and across most of the width of the remainder. Hairs black, except for median tuft and apical fringe of rich gold on the first to the fifth tergites, more or less interrupted sublaterally by dark hairs on the first, third and fifth; apical lateral corners of tergites with bright golden tufts, except for the completely black zone on the third. Venter bright mahogany brown, irregularly darkened, and with creamy golden hairs, which tend to form pale apical fringes to the sternites.

♂. Darker than female, and more like male of S. adrel. The median dark markings on the basal abdominal tergites tend to be reduced to spots, and the hair tufts are rich golden in colour; palpi similar in form to S. adrel, but usually not so dark; legs brown, hairs on hind tibiae entirely reddish brown.

Distribution. North Island: Brown's Bay, near Auckland, November, December (on flowers); Henderson, December; Manganamu, Lake Taupo, January; Whakapapa, Ruapehu, 4,000ft, January; Wanganui; Korokoro, February; York Bay, near Wellington, February; Wellington, December; Muritai Track, January.

S. adrel and S. lerda are distinctive species, which should not be difficult to recognize in the field. In using these notes for identification, it is necessary to remember, however, that fresh material is always more richly coloured and better marked than relatively old museum specimens, on which the descriptions have necessarily been based. Browns, in particular, tend to become yellowish with age, and reddish black to end as a dull red. Old specimens may be freshened, as well as greasy ones cleaned, by immersion over-night in amyl acetate (a method for which I am indebted to Dr. C. B. Philip), but their colours are rarely fully restored.

These flies have apparently not been observed to suck blood, although Dr. Miller has reports of stock being disturbed in the presence of S. adrel. Their habits were vividly described by Hudson more than sixty years ago under the general name of “Comptosia bicolor”. He wrote: “This conspicuous species is very abundant in glades throughout the summer, flying with great rapidity, and delighting to suck honey from the numerous shrubs which are in blossom at that time of year. It is a social species, and is usually found in companies of fifteen to twenty individuals, which engage in endless dances, two insects often seizing one another on the wing and then revolving together like a wheel in rapid motion. Their manoeuvres in avoiding the strong gusty wind, so often prevalent in early summer, are also interesting; the insects play upon the wing whilst the air is quiet, but if a breeze springs up they instantly settle on the nearest bush, rising to renew their sports when it is again calm.” Tillyard (1926, p. 359) noted that S. adrel frequented the blossoms of Leptospermum, a habit which is common in Australian species also.

Nothing is recorded of their life histories, but there is a bred male of S. adrel, with the pupal skin attached, in Dr. Miller's collection. The aster (Text-fig. 2, A) is remarkable, in that all six lobes are clearly represented, although the dorsal and ventral pairs are greatly reduced. This is the most primitive condition so far encountered in the tribe, the Australian species of Scaptia described (subgenera Scaptia, Pseudoscione and Myioscaptia) and the Nearctic Goniops having “bilobed” asters,

with the dorsal and ventral lobes reduced to low, unarmed swellings, and the lateral lobes usually larger than in S. adrel.

Scaptia (Pseudoscione) ricardoae (Hutton). Text-fig. 3, C, N.

Comptosia bicolor Hudson, 1892. Preoccupied in Scaptia by Pangonia bicolor Macquart, 1845. No type designated, and Miss Holloway has informed me that there are no specimens in the Hudson collection in the Dominion Museum, nor are any mentioned in the catalogue of its contents.

Pangonia ricardoi Hutton, 1901. No type designated. Mr. Forster found specimens identified by Hutton in the Canterbury Museum, but none labelled as type, although Hutton's three other types of Tabanidae are present in the collection. The name is now corrected to ricardoae to comply with the “Copenhagen Decisions,” 1953, paras. 86, 87.

Scaptia brevipalpis var. palpalis Kröber, 1931, p. 69. Type ♀, from New Zealand, in the British Museum (Natural History). Females returned by Mr. Oldroyd as agreeing with Kröber's type included one determined by Hutton as Pangonia ricardoi, and agree with his description of that species.

Scaptia palpalis Krober. Miller, 1950, p. 70.

Material Examined: 22 ♂ ♂ (including three det. Hutton), 9 ♀ ♀ (including those noted above).

The nomenclature of this species is difficult. Hudson's description embraced a complex of species, for which the name he used^* is not available. Hutton followed his name by “sp. nov.”, gave a recognizable description of a species he had before him, and listed its distribution; but he recorded “bicolor Hudson… not of Macquart” as a synonym, apparently did not mark a type, and labelled his specimens “Pangonia ricardoi Huds.” He seems to have been confused between two different procedures: describing a misidentified species as new, and proposing a new name for a junior homonym. Nevertheless, I believe that his name is valid, and should have priority over Kröber's.

In order to identify this species precisely, I now select, as lectotype of Scaptia (Pseudoscione) ricardoae (Hutton, 1901), a female in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, without locality label, but bearing a label “Pangonia ricardoi Huds., det. F. W. Hutton”, to which has now been added a further label, stating that it had been seen by Mr. H. Oldroyd of the British Museum (Natural History), and returned by him as agreeing with the type female of Scaptia brevipalpis var. palpalis Kröber, 1931.

♀. Like S. lerda, with similarly shaped palpi, and entirely red-brown hairs on hind tibiae; but distinguished by the wider, paler frons (index 3 to 3.5); creamy fawn subcallus, parafacials and face; darker third antennal segment, which is quite black in some specimens; duller general colour; and dull cream (instead of bright golden) thoracic and abdominal hair tufts.

♂ Darker than female, and at first I thought that it was a light form of S. adrel, distinguished by the yellowish brown tibiae and more extensive lighter markings on the abdominal tergites. When I came to ally the males with the females, I found from his labels that Hutton had already done so. The male has the hairs on hind tibiae reddish brown, as in the female, and is distinguished from the male of S. lerda by its darker general colour, grey first and second antennal segments, darker palpi, deep brown to blackish femora, and dull cream thoracic and abdominal hair tufts.

Distribution. North Island: Recorded from “Wellington (Hudson)” by Hutton (1901); I have seen no specimens that correspond with this record. South Island: Nelson, December; Upper Maitai, near Nelson, December; Grey River, January; Lake Moana, December; Mt. Grey, January; White Rock, Canterbury, December; Upper Hororata, January; Christchurch, December; Peel Forest, December; Ashburton (Hutton, 1901); Dunedin, October; Wallacetown, Otago, January.

Several males have scattered black hairs among the reddish brown on the hind tibiae, and four have relatively short palpi, like that illustrated for the male variant

of S. milleri (Text-fig. 3, J). One male (Lake Moana, Tonnoir) in the Canterbury Museum has brown femora, and the basal abdominal tergites almost entirely black. Two females have unusually wide palpi (Text-fig. 3, N), and one of them (Wallacetown, col. Miller) also has relatively prominent post-alar tufts and a distinct hint of gold in the hairs at the sides of the fourth to sixth abdominal tergites; they agree in other respects with ricardoae rather than brevipalpis.

Scaptia (Pseudoscione) brevipalpis Kröber. Text-fig. 3, D, I.

Scaptia brevipalpis Kröber, 1931, p. 67; Miller, 1950, p. 70. Type ♂, from Mt Earnslaw, ♀ from Ohakune, New Zealand, stated to be in the British Museum (Natural History). Mr. Oldroyd has written of these: “There are no types here, nor even any specimens det. Kröber, but there are specimens labelled by him as lerda which clearly belong to brevipalpis—as if he had changed his mind, but forgotten to alter the labels. There is a male from Mt. Earnslaw and several females from Ohakune, which might be types.”

Material Examined: 8 ♂ ♂, 17 ♀ ♀, including specimens returned by Mr. Oldroyd as agreeing with the above.

A medium sized, brown species, resembling S. lerda in general coloration, but distinguished from all except S. milleri by the short, wide palpi of the female. Length, 10–12 mm.

♀. Head: Eyes with brown hairs above, paler ones below. Frons medium (index 3.5 to 4), bright yellowish brown, with bright brown hairs; ocellar tubercle deep brown. Subcallus fawn-cream. Parafacials and face light fawn, with fine cream hairs on parafacials, mainly brown ones on face. Antennae: First and second segments creamy yellow, with golden and black hairs; third brown, darkening distally. Palpi (Text-fig. 3, I) short and broad; bright orange-brown, with black marginal hairs, and a few scattered ones on the otherwise bare area. Beard cream.

Thorax: Scutum olive-brown, with quite evident greyish fawn median and dorsocentral vittae, which fade behind suture, and more brownish fawn lateral areas, with a brown spot above wing root. Hairs erect dark brown, and quite dense, somewhat appressed light to yellowish brown; marginal hairs mixed dark brown and orange in front of wing root, yellowish cream above and behind it; post-alar tuft conspicuous. Scutellum brown, with yellowish brown to bright brown hairs, including the apical margin. Pleurae light greyish fawn, with mainly cream hairs, which are mixed with dull yellowish ones on the upper mesopleural convexity and in the hypopleural tuft.

Legs: Almost uniformly light brown, darkening somewhat on hind tibiae and all tarsi; hairs cream to yellowish on the femora, yellowish cream and brown on fore and mid tibiae, usually mixed reddish to yellowish brown and black on hind tibiae, darker on the tarsi.

Wings: Similar to S. lerda and S. ricardoae, but the brown colour tends to suffuse the anterior half of the wing more uniformly; veins brown; R₄ angulate, and often with a short appendix.

Abdomen: Bright mahogany brown, with an interrupted median black vitta on first three tergites, and more extensive darkening more posteriorly. Hairs black on disc; long and golden on median triangles, apical edges, and lateral margins of all tergites, except for a black patch at basal lateral corners of third. Venter creamy fawn, with cream hairs, particularly at edges of sternites, and with few or no dark hairs.

♂ Darker than female, and with less evident scutal vittae. Palpi relatively short, more or less rounded at tip (Text-fig. 3, I); lateral and posterior surfaces of hind tibiae with black hairs which are longer and less dense than those of S. adrel; abdomen with median apical golden tufts on second and subsequent tergites; there is no continuous pale fringe on second, as in S. milleri; lateral margin with apical golden tufts at corners of tergites, except the third, which has entirely black fringe; venter as in female.

Distribution. North Island: Whakapapa, Ruapehu, 4,000ft, January; Ohakune, January; Mt. Holdsworth (lower slopes), January; Wainui-o-mata, near Wellington, December (Kröber, 1931); Wellington. South Island: Dun Mt., near Nelson, 2,500 to 3,000ft, January, February; Lake Rotoroa, January; Gowan, Murchison, January; Lake Moana, December; Arthur's Pass, 3,000ft, January; Waiho Gorge, December; Mt. Earnslaw, 3,500ft, January (Kröber, 1931); Wallacetown, Otago., December.

Most of the males have a few red-brown hairs among the black ones on the hind tibiae; they are fairly numerous in one specimen, leading, in this respect, towards the males of ricardoae with some black hairs in this position. Six females have entirely red-brown hairs on hind tibiae; in one female the hairs on first and second antennal segments are almost entirely black, and the third segment is very dark.

Scaptia (Pseudoscione) milleri, sp. nov. Text-fig. 3, E, J.

Scaptia bicolor Krober, 1931, p. 65, ♂, nec Hudson, 1892. Krober's description fits the ♂ of this species very well.

Types: Holotype ♀, from Dun Mt., Nelson, 3,000ft, 27.1.1921, A Philpot, and allotype ♂, from Woodend, Otago.,—12.1909, D. Miller (No. 470), in the Cawthron Institute, Nelson.

Material Examined: 5 ♂ ♂, 5 ♀ ♀.

I hesitate to describe a new species in this variable group, but the present form is constantly distinct from S. brevipalpis in the short series before me. Length, 9–12 mm.

♀. Distinguished from S. brevipalpis by more uniformly light creamy fawn frons; darker antennae, with entirely black hairs on first and second segments; somewhat larger, wider palpi (Text-fig. 3, J); more conspicuous dorsocentral scutal vittae, which are continuous to scutellum; less conspicuous, more whitish post-alar tufts; creamy white abdominal hair tufts; darker venter, with a vague dark vitta and quite numerous dark brown hairs in the median area of the third and subsequent sternites; and by the markings of the wings.

The costal cell is not darkened, the brown colour forming an irregular pattern extending obliquely backwards from the stigma, across the apices of the basal cells, enclosing the discal cell, and narrowly along the veins in the distal and posterior part of the wings. The general appearance is somewhat mottled, reminiscent of that characteristic of the subgenus Plinthina in Australia.

♂ Recognizable primarily by the wing markings and dark hairs on the venter, both of which are similar to those of the female. The pale apical fringe on the second abdominal tergite is continuous and well defined. The palpi are short in three of the males, as in S. brevipalpis (Text-fig. 3, I) but darker; they are more slender (Text-fig. 3, J) in the other two.

Distribution. North Island: Ohakune, January, February (in nest of crabronid wasp identified as Rhopalum carbonicolor);^* Wellington, January. South Island: Dun Mt., near Nelson, 3,000ft, January, February; Waiho Gorge, South Westland, February; Upper Hororata, January; Woodend, Otago, December.

Scaptia (Pseudoscione) montana (Hutton). Text-fig. 3, F, K, L, M.

Pangonia (Corizoneura) montana Hutton, 1901. Type ♀, from Mt. Arthur, Nelson. New Zealand, col. Broun, in the Canterbury Museum, Auckland. Although described as bare, the eyes of the type are distinctly hairy.

Corizoneura montana Hutton. Kröber, 1931, p. 70; Miller, 1950, p. 69.

Scaptia (Pseudoscione) montana (Hutton). Mackerras, 1955, p. 495.

Material Examined: 9 ♂ ♂, 5 ♀ ♀, including the type.

A small, compact, distinctive, semi-metallic, black species, with wide frons, short, wide palpi, and uniformly brown legs. Length 8–11 mm.

♀. Head: Eyes with long, but not dense, light brown hairs. Frons relatively wide (index 2.5 to 3), uniformly reddish brown, with yellowish brown hairs; in some specimens there is a rubbed area above the subcallus suggestive of an incipient callus;