Little Grey Bee Fly - BugGuide.Net

Moved

Moved from Bee Flies.

… Lynette Schimming, 23 April, 2008 - 12:40pm

Moved

I'll move this back to bee flies for now.

… Lynette Schimming, 22 April, 2008 - 10:09am

Moved

Thanks for the help!

… Lynette Schimming, 17 April, 2008 - 9:43am

Great to see your photos

now from the SoCal desert, Lynette, and a nice looking Aphoebantus! We need much more western representation.

… Hartmut Wisch, 17 April, 2008 - 10:53am

Yes,

I have 4 days(or so) of images from the Desert Hot Springs area. I'd like to be taking shots from here in Western WA, a few sunny days would be nice.

… Lynette Schimming, 17 April, 2008 - 3:12pm

ID correction

Pantarbes has the eyes widely separated. This is a shaggy species of Aphoebantus, believe it or not. The species A. mus is long, white pilose like this one. It is very widely distributed in the arid West, but not typically abundant at any site. I would place it there. We are making great progress with this genus in Bugguide.

… Andy Calderwood, 17 April, 2008 - 9:35am

Andy,

I think it would be helpful, and enlightening, if you could share references, i.e. what key did you use here? I think you're talking about Aphoebantus (Triodina) mus -in Hull -(Triodites mus Osten Sacken, now A. mus ), which does have some sort of pile (as opposed to the usual appressed scales). However, I thought that wing venation was still that of Aphoebantus? Some of that information could then be included on the Information page. Thanks.

… Hartmut Wisch, 21 April, 2008 - 10:06pm

ID fix

Hartmut, you are right. I saw this same guy posted later and correctly spotted the venation. This is in Chrysanthrax, I think, but I don't think I've ever gotten it to species. I sometimes jot things down in haste when I should take greater care. I am still getting the hang of Photo ID's. Thanks for the correction.
-Andy

… Andy Calderwood, 22 April, 2008 - 9:54am

Thanks, Andy -

Probably Chrysanthrax , its what I thought it might be. Certainly Villini.
I'm about to head out of town for a few days in the Mojave. Hopefully, I'll spot some interesting bugs besides reconnecting with plants.

… Hartmut Wisch, 23 April, 2008 - 11:01am

Aphoebantus?

Are you sure about the genus? The venation on this fly looks more like something in the Villini, with vein R2+3 arising at a right angle just distal to the r-m crossvein.

… Joel Kits, 21 April, 2008 - 6:40pm