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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Orthorrhapha" (Brachycera excluding Aschiza and Schizophora) » Asiloidea » Bee Flies (Bombyliidae) » Bombyliinae » Bombyliini » Anastoechus » Anastoechus hessei
Photo#255872
Anastoechus hessei
Copyright © 2008 Lynn Monroe

Anastoechus hessei
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, San Diego County, California, USA
October 5, 2008
Size: BL about 9-10 mm
This black-tailed bee fly was hovering at Alkali Goldenbush at the Sentenac Cienega. We found and collected a dead fly. Its tiny haltares had white knobs, separating it from the similar A. melanohalteralis which, as its name suggests, is described with black haltares. Painter (1962) calls this a southwestern desert species. Probably No. 244082,seen at the Borrego Sink, another alkaline habitat, and also on Alkali Goldenbush is also A. hessei.

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Anastoechus hessei Anastoechus hessei
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Contributed by Lynn Monroe on 1 March, 2009 - 8:49am
Last updated 21 March, 2009 - 9:01pm

Moved
Moved from Anastoechus.

The Kaufman guide illustrates leucothrix without the dark fur behind.

Apparently the other species come close in fur color. Compare

… John F. Carr, 21 March, 2009 - 9:01pm login or register to post comments

ID
I consulted Painter 1962 and by that paper the mostly black tip of the abdomen is sufficient for ID to species within the genus. But there has apparently been a new species described since 1962, leucothrix Hall and Evenhuis 1981. I don't have a description of the species. Leucothrix means something like "pale hair" and I note this guy has a pail tuft in the black. Do you know how to distinguish the species (whether by range, appearance, or otherwise)?
… John F. Carr, 20 March, 2009 - 7:23pm login or register to post comments

 
Anastoechus
You are right! it could possibly be A. leucothrix. Google gave me the distribution, which includes California into Utah. However, the reference is to a German publication on Flies of the Nearctic Region., prob Vol 5, 1981. I cannot get this publication by library loan. So unless someone else has the publication and the key, it will have to be just Anastoechus sp.
… Lynn Monroe, 21 March, 2009 - 6:10pm login or register to post comments

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