Lamyra

Hull, F. M., 1962, Lamyra Loew, Bulletin of the United States National Museum 224, pp. 365-367 : 365-367

Genus Lamyra Loew

Figures 221, 272, 632, 1272, 1281, 1806, 2081, 2094

Lamyra Loew, Bemerkungen über die Familie Asiliden, p. 19, 1851. Type of genus: Lamyra gulo Loew , 1831, by original designation.

Quite large and comparatively slender flies with davate abdomen. They are also distinguished by the greatly reduced pilosity, the extremely long legs and the long, very stout proboscis which is directed straight forward and carries a long fringe of dorsal bristles. Claws blunt. Length up to 40 mm.

Head, lateral aspect : The head is rather long. The face is slightly protuberant above, gradually becoming more extensive until quite prominent below where the face appeal’s as an obtuse triangle. Eyes moderately recessive below. The anterior eye profile shallowly convex, the eyes somewhat flattened in the middle. The occiput is obliterated, beginning with the upper half, but rather thick and well developed below. Pile of occiput fine, long and scanty above and over the middle , but quite dense and tufted below; stout bristles begin near the bottom of the occiput and consist of about 17 on each side. The proboscis is unusually long, large and robust and scarcely tapered ; the apex is obtusely rounded and bears stiff pile, the dorsal margin has a close-set fringe of long, stiff, curved, anteriorlydirected bristles which extend back to the basal third. The face is somewhat swollen, bearing a very little short, scanty pile below, and the proboscis is directed straight forward and is not quite twice as long as the head. Palpus of two segments, the first more or less fused with the base and dorsolaterally excavated, the second unusually stout, robust, and cylindrical and densely covered with stiff bristles dorsally and apically. The antenna is attached to the upper fifth of the head and is moderately long; the first segment is nearly twice as long as the second, the third is laterally compressed, tapered from the middle to the base and only gently tapered beyond on the ventral half. At the apex is a rather large, transverse, recessed opening bearing within a short, concealed spine. Pile of the first two segments scanty, the first with 2 or 3 slender, stiff bristles below.

Head, anterior aspect : The face below antenna onefifth of head width and slightly divergent below. Subepistomal area rather large, and strongly oblique, concave and bare. Face with micropubescence only along the eye margin; it bears long, coarse pile laterally and has a dense band of extremely long but weak bristles, sometimes of 2 colors across the middle of the lower face margin. Sides of the subepistoma with a few long, bristly hairs. Front extremely short, bearing at the eye margin 5 or G stout bristles. Vertex rather deeply excavated, the ocellar protuberance unusually large but rounded and domelike and bearing a single pair of especially stout, long, divergent bristles; there may be a few short, stiff hairs behind the ocelli. Eye facets slightly enlarged centrally.

Text-Figure 24.-Pattern of distribution of the genus Lamyra Loew.

Thorax : The thorax is pollinose including the plenron . Pile of mesonotiun very scanty, fine and suberect. Humerus with a few, stiff hairs and 3 or more short, stiff bristles. The stout, lateral bristles are only moderately long and consist of 2 or 3 notopleural, 4 or 5 supraalar, with setae above the postalar region, 3 or 4 postalar, bristles, and besides 3 pairs of scutellar bristles . The scutellar disc has a few scattered hairs. Propleuron with an abundant tuft of long, fine hairs on the ventral part; the pronotum has 3 or 4 pairs of weak bristles. Upper and anterior mesopleuron with some short, stiff hair, posterior upper border of mesopleuron with 5 to 7 stout bristles; upper stemopleuron with a few hairs; pteropleuron without pile, hypopleuron with a few scattered hairs. Metapleuron with an irregular tuft of 8 or 9 long, stout bristles. Metanotal slopes bullose and micropubescent only. Metastemal slopes with a few scattered, long hairs; the metasternum with numerous, fine, long hairs; postmetacoxal area membranous. Prosternum not dissociated, but narrowed a little posterolaterally and with an odd anterior collar. Tegula pubescent only.

Legs: All the legs elongate; the hind femur is exceptionally lengthened and at least twice as long as the middle femora ; the hind tibia is also long. The femora have rather closely appressed, dense, short setae and all bristles are rather short. The bristles of the hind femur consist of 1 medial at the apex, 1 at the middle, and 2 or 3 near the base, and 3 short lateral bristles near the base besides 2 longer lateral bristles near the middle ; ventrally there are only short, appressed setae. Hind trochanters strongly swollen below, with 1 medial bristle and 1 ventral bristle. The hind tibia bears 3 or 4 weak dorsal, 1 rather stout ventral at the outer fourth; at the apex there are only 2 strong, lateral bristles. Middle femur with 2 bristles posteriorly near the apex and 2 at the base and 4 slender bristles ventrally on the basal half; middle tibia with 4 dorsal bristles which are short and weak, 1 stout posterior at the apical sixth and a similar bristle ventrally opposite it. The anterior femur has 7 or 8 weak, stout bristles ventrally, restricted to the basal two-thirds; its tibia has 5 or 6 short, weak anteròdorsal bristles and an equal number of posterodorsal bristles; also 3 or 4 short posterior and 2 rather longer, slightly stouter, posteroventral bristles at the basal fourth and middle. Apex with 4 ventral and 2 dorsal bristles; apex without spine. All tarsi end in a well developed pulvilli, stout empodium , and extremely blunt claws gently curved from the base.

Wings: The wings are slender, elongate and subhvaline . Marginal cell closed with a stalk, first posterior cell narrowly open; the anterior branch of the third vein ends at wing apex. Fourth posterior cell closed and stalked; anal cell closed; alula large, ambient vein complete.

Abdomen : The abdomen is long and slender, widest apically and davate and as long as the wing. Tergite one is unswollen. Pile of abdomen for the most part rather scanty, fine, and minute; it is more abundant and slightly longer posteriorly and everywhere fiat appressed, except for short fringing hairs along the lateral margins. The sides of the first tergite have 2 stout bristles; the extreme lateral edge in the middle of the second to fourth tergite each with a weak bristle . Sternites with some fine, long, scattered pile. Male tenninalia moderately large and protrusive with quite shallow, bowllike epandrium which may have a laterally posterior tooth or process. The interior structures are openly exposed to the dorsal aspect. The gonopods are not at all apposed but have a distally widened, toothed, posterior process; they tend to curve downward at the apex away from the epandrium . Female tenninalia short; instead of l>eing flat

Text-Figure 25.- Lamyra gulo Loew . they are stout and quite robust, attenuate but rapidly swollen towards the base; dorsally they have a medial fissure.

Distribution: Palaearctic: Lamyra pleskei Becker (1913).

Ethiopian: Lamyra gulo Loew (1951) ; versicolor Ricardo (1925); vorax Loew (1858) [=? nobilis Walker (1851 )].