Sphyracephala subbifasciata Fitch 1855

Sphyracephala subbifasciata Fitch, 1855 Figs 101, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 119–120, 121–124, Tables 2, 3, 4 Sphyracephala subbifasciata Fitch, 1855: 774. Williston 1908: 314 (S. brevicornis figure is S. subbifasciata); Curran 1934: 358 (S. brevicornis figure is S. subbifasciata); Lavigne 1962: 5 (Lavigne - pers. comm. - later indicated that all data refer to S. subbifasciata, except for 1958 records); Cole 1969: fig. 10; Barnes 1988: 110; Peterson 1987: 785 (fig. 61.1 represents S. subbifasciata); Feijen 1989: 84, figs 41–68; Delfosse 2006: 32 (S. brevicornis figure is S. subbifasciata); Stoaks and Shaw 2011: 232; Lonsdale 2013: table 2, figs 90, 91 (phylogenetic analysis), Londsdale 2020: 6, figs 143–147, 160–168, 188–190, 407; Marshall 2017: 419. Sphyracephala brevicornis (Say): Loew 1873: 103. Loew was the first author to ascertain S. subbifasciata as junior synonym of S. brevicornis. Feijen (1989) indicated that Loew based his study of S. subbifasciata on a pair of flies received from Osten Sacken as S. subbifasciata. However, this pair represented S. brevicornis. Till Feijen (1989), all authors followed Loew’s view, while often reporting on a mixture of the two species, or one of the two species. Type series. USA: lectotype ♀, north of Ottawa, Illinois, 17.x.1854, swept from grass, at base of the bluffs of the Illinois river [~ 41°23'31"N, 88°47'13"W, ~ 150 m] (USNM, see also Feijen 1989: 84). Paralectotypes: 2 ♀, same data as lectotype (USNM). Distribution. Feijen (1989) gave for distribution: South-Eastern Canada and Northern U. S. A. from Northern Colorado to New England. Stoaks and Shaw (2011) extended the known distribution 1200 km westward till Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Illustrations. Feijen (1989) and Lonsdale (2020) provided drawings of external morphology and genitalia, while Lonsdale also presented some photographs. To this is added photographs (Figs 119 – 124) of habitus, head, thorax, wing, fore femur, and abdomen.