Meromacrus acutus - BugGuide.Net

Will move to guide...

I'm going to go ahead and move to the guide for Meromacrus acutus. The identification seems pretty firm.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 1 February, 2006 - 10:33am

Aha! Not Milesia, Meromacrus

This would appear to be Meromacrus, likely M acuta. See comments under this image:

Arnett, (1) lists M. acuta as widespread in the southeast. I'm satisfied enough to move it to a guide for that species, if OK with you.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 31 January, 2006 - 10:13pm

Neat, compare inidividual from NC

Maybe you can help solve The Milesia Mystery. There are, as far as I can tell, supposed to be two species in the east: M. virginiensis and M. scutellata. The first is yellow, resembling a yellowjacket. M. scutellata I've seen only one photograph of (plus a description in a key), and the pattern is quite different from M. virginiensis.

Your specimen resembles the couple of dark Milesia I've seen here in North Carolina:

I've speculated about what it could be here:

Your specimen really has a tapered abdomen, indicative of a male? Perhaps male M. virginiensis are much darker than females. If you see the bright yellowjacket mimics in your area, perhaps you can post photos.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 15 May, 2005 - 6:32am

Nice shots Brian!

I love Florida critters, this is a beautifully marked syrphid. Nice shots!

… Tony DiTerlizzi, 14 May, 2005 - 9:43pm

Thank you both. I'll be putt

Thank you both. I'll be putting a LOT more images up as opportunity allows. I'll keep my eyes open for more of these, and will photograph all I can to help get to the bottom of the great "Markings Mystery".

:)

… Brian E Womble, 15 May, 2005 - 2:33pm