Stump-vein Brown Bee Fly - Comptosia neosobria

Family Bombyliidae

This page contains pictures and information about Stump-vein Brown Bee Flies that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Body length 20mm

In early summer September, we found many of them resting on the sandy footpath in Karawatha Forest Dentata Track. Some of them were mating.



This Bee Fly is dark brown in colour with short golden hair on body. The wings are tinted with brown colour and have no pattern on. Female and male are about the same size, Female has the larger abdomen.



On Oct 2011 in JC Trotter Memorial Park on the sandy footpath, there were many Brown Long-wings Bee Flies flying around. Some of them were mating and some defending their territory.



All were found either resting on forest floor, either on bare soil or low on plants. When disturbed, they flied and rested on floor a meter away.



This species can be recognized by wing vein R4, there is the short appendix.



This Bee Fly is common in Brisbane.



Females lay eggs just under sandy soils after mating.



Reference:
1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p 759.
2. Revision of the Australian bee fly genus Comptosia (Diptera : Bombyliidae) - D Yeates, 1991.