Wasp-mimic Robber Fly I - Chrysopogon splendidissimus
Family Asilidae
This page contains pictures and information about Wasp-mimic Robber Flies
that we found
in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Subfamily Dasypogoninae, body length 25mm
- This robber fly mimics the spider
wasps. It has black and orange body, long legs and orange wings with
slightly clouded wing-tips. Legs are black to orange in colours, coxae
are black, femora are black with orange-brown proximally. remaining legs
segments are orange-yellow.
- In mid summer 2004 we found this Wasp Mimic Robber Fly hunting on the ground among the dry leaves in Mt Cotton bushland. At first we thought it was a wasp and put those pictures in our Vespid Wasps page. Rob Longair, University of Calgary, send us email and advised that "It is actually a robber fly (Diptera: Asilidae) mimic of a wasp. The antennae and the stance in the second picture are typical of robber flies." Here we would like to thank Rob again.
- During mid-summer 2005 in the rainforest near Mt Nebo, we found this Wasp-mimic Robber Fly mating pair.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p362.
- 2. A Taxonomic Revision of the Tribe Chrysopogonini (Diptera : Asilidae) - A. N. Clements, Australian Journal of Zoology Supplementary Series No. 109, CSIRO 1985, p60.
- 3. Australian Wildlife Insects Flies - Lochman Transparencies, 2008, (Chrysopogon crabroniformis).
- 4. A taxonomic revision of the tribe Chrysopogonini (Diptera: Asilidae) - Clements, A.N. 1985, Australian Journal of Zoology, Suppl. Ser. No. 109. 93 pp.
