Florida Asilidae (Diptera) with Description of One New Species

Abstract

There have been many additions to the asilid fauna of Florida since my great friend and mentor, the late C. W. Johnson, for many years Curator of Insects at the Boston Society of Natural History, published the “Diptera of Florida” in 1913 (Bui. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 32, Art. III, pages 37-90). In that work, on pages 60 to 62 he listed 52 asilids for the state. In 1929, the late Dr. J. R. Watson, State Entomologist of Florida, and Dr. M. D. Leonard urged me to prepare a work on Florida robber flies. Starting with the material in the Experiment Station at Gainesville and the collection at the U. S. Bureau of Entomology at Orlando, where Mr. W. W. Yothers had obtained a number of interesting records of this family of flies, I was able to amass a considerable amount of data. Later, Mr. Robert Foster, State Bee Inspector, turned over to me the material received from his men, Mr. A. C. Lundin and Mr. John D. Haynie. Through the kindness of Dr. E. S. Thomas, the records of the Ohio State Museum, and through Dr. Josef Knull, those of the Ohio State University were made available. To Col. F. S. Blanton, who gave me records collected by himself and his brother Alton, and to Dr. R. H. Beamer whose collector associates, J. D. Beamer, A. T. and D. E. Hardy, P. B. Lawson, P. W. Oman, W. Benedict, and E. G. Wegenek, who amassed a great many records, the writer is also indebted, while Dr. Josef Bequaert furnished many from the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Dr. J. G. Needham kindly send me records from the Archbold Laboratories, Lake Placid. My own records collected in 1923, 1924, 1928, 1929 and 1935 are included as are those of the late William T. Davis. In 1934, I had access, through the kindness of Dr. Ray Hutson, to the A. J. Cook collection at the State Experiment Station, East Lansing, Michigan, and a number of interesting notes were added from here. To all these as well as to numerous other collectors to whom credit is given in the list, the writer is deeply grateful.