Rhagio ochraceus (Loew 1862)

Rhagio ochraceus Loew
1862. Leptis ochracea Loew, Berl. Ent. Zeitschr., vi, p. 187.
1908. Rhagio ochraceus Kertesz. Cat. Dip., in, p. 309.
I am somewhat in doubt as to the validity of this species. I have studied Loew's type, however, and would describe it as follows, although my description does not quite agree with the original description in all cases; this is due possibly to the fact that the type has wrinkled somewhat, possibly being rather teneral when pinned :
Female. — Length, 9 mm. Head: Face and front blackish, grayish white pollinose; antennae, proboscis, and palpi yellowish, the latter with pale hairs.
Thorax: Mesonotum shining yellowish, three broad indistinct brownish-yellow stripes which give the dorsum a brownish-yellow cast; scutellum yellowish, both this and the mesonotum covered with short black hairs; humeral calli very pale yellowish; pleura yellowish; halteres ochraceous, the knobs only slightly infuscated.
Abdomen: Slightly shining, ochraceous, and immaculate, but due to rather bad wrinkling in drying it appears in certain lights, to be quite distinctly banded with
blackish ; on segments five to seven there seems to be a very narrow band at the incisures, which looks slightly darker; eighth segment wholly darkened.
Legs: Yellow, except the apex of the anterior femora and the apical third of the anterior tibiae faintly infuscated; tarsi infuscated, the base of the middle pair slightly paler.
Wings: Almost hyaline; costal cell ochraceous; the tip distinctly darkened; the cross-veins both above and below the base of the discal cell, the two veins forming the apex of the discal cell and the base of the radial sector, all distinctly infuscated; nearly all the veins brownish.
The only other specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zoology collection is a female labelled "Osten Sacken, N. Y." In this the lines on the thorax are almost indistinguishable and the wings are paler; the legs are yellowish; there is a broad subapical distinctly brownish ring on the front femora and on the apex of the front tibiae.
In addition to the type a female from "New York, Edwards" and the Osten Sacken female, both in the Museum of Comparative Zoology Collection, I have seen four females from Pennsylvania determined as ochraceus Lw. as follows: 2 9 , Castle Rock, (C. T. Greene), June 3, 1906; [the former in A. N. S. P., the latter in Pa. Dept. Agr. Coll.]. 1 9 , Roxboro, June 24, 1908, [Pa. Dept. Agr. Coll.]. 1 9 , Philadelphia, June 1 1 , 1891 [U. of 111.].
The first from Castle Rock was determined by C. T. Greene and I believe it is ochraceus but I doubt if the other three are, and believe that the specimen from Philadelphia, determined by C. W. Johnson, and the one from Roxboro might be more correctly referrable to vertebratus Say.
Mr. C. W. Johnson writes me under date of June 7, 1928 as follows: "On June 20, 1926, Dr. J. G. Myers took an interesting specimen at Forest Hills, Mass. From the wing markings I consider it a dark colored Rhagio ochraceus Loew, but the body is darker, the abdomen is yellow with a dorsal row of spots and the lateral margins black. "