Showing papers in "Pacific Insects in 1981"

STUDIES IN PACIFIC BOMBYLIIDAE (DIPTERA) VI. Description of a new anthracine genus from the western Pacific, with notes on some of Matsumura's Anthrax types1

Abstract: A new genus, Brachyanax, is described to include the following new species: B. costalis, B. magnipennis, B. chichijimensi s, B. thelestrephones, B. australensis, B. papuanus, and B. oceanicus. Also included are the following described species: B. yamashiroensi s, n. comb., B. bifuscatipenn is, n. comb., B. philippinensi s, n. comb., and B. leucostigma, n. comb. Notes are provided on the types of Anthrax koshunensis and A. ogasawarensis , with A. ogasawarensis transferred to Exhyalanthrax. The genus Anthrax is one of the best-represented genera of Bombyliidae in the Pacific Basin. The only large works including this genus are Brunetti (1920) on the Oriental fauna and Roberts (1928) on the Australian fauna. Most descriptions of species of Anthrax from the Pacific islands and surrounding areas were brief, made in the late 1800's and early 1900's by Walker, de Meijere and van der Wulp, and were based mainly on scanty material. In addition, many of the types (especially Walker's) are presumed either destroyed or lost. Because of this unfortunate set of circumstances and the fact that certain species-groups of Anthrax from this area con­ tain species which are extremely similar in appearance, few attempts have been made to clarify the existing relationships among the species of this varied genus from the Pacific Basin. The position of a small portion of the species of Anthrax sensu lato from the Pacific Region is clarified here. Future papers in this series will involve larger revisionary studies of this genus from the Pacific, Australian and Southeast