A Classification of North American Conopidae

Abstract

In the course of determining several lots of North American Conopidae, it soon became evident that there were considerably more names than species. Sixty-seven years age S. W. Williston, in his account of Conops, admonished that “the indiscriminate description of new species, is here especially to be deprecated; and, owing to the great individual variation of color, and the paucity of plastic characters, large collections will be essential, eventually, to a complete and satisfactory knowledge”. Since Williston's advice has not been too well followed, the present paper is an attempt to clear up some of the difficulties and present a point of departure for future studies.