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Photo#325013
Unknown - Lasia purpurata

Unknown - Lasia purpurata
Arkansas, USA
June 9, 2009
Is this a bee fly? If so, what kind is it? Thanks for the help!

Moved
Moved from Neolasia purpurata.

Correspondence with Dennis Haines, Martin Hauser, Chris Borkent and others, as well as reference and publication searches indicate that Neolasia is not a validly named or recognized genus. The valid name for the genus is Lasia Wiedemann, 1824.

done -- per the unanimous decision
Moved from Lasia.

I vote
Move to Neolasia purpurata and remove the Lasia page for now.

 
Agreed!
Agreed!

 
This picture was taken over t
This picture was taken over this past summer. Not sure exactly what day or month, but it was definitely this past summer. It was taken in Arkansas.

Location
Do we even know if this is from the region covered by BugGuide?

 
that's the point: we don't...
*

 
Google
finds a bwaldrop23 in Monroe, LA, USA. MAYBE that is our contributor and MAYBE MAYBE the fly is from nearby.

 
The floral host in the pictur
The floral host in the picture looks to be Asclepias tuberosa, a common wildflower over much the southern and eastern USA into Canada. So that doesn't narrow it down much, but certainly seems to support a locality within the United States & Canada. Its a rare thing and an excellent picture so I hate to see it frassed. I still hopeful that the bwaldrop23 will update the info.

As to the genus Neolasia, I can find no reference to it. It may be something Ev is working on describing, but an internet search turns up nothing. Ev Schlinger's section on the Acroceridae in the Manual of Nearctic Diptera, Vol. 1, 1981 lists the genus as Lasia.

 
Info
Range info on the info page may help
http://bugguide.net/node/view/61851
Google has a lot of links for Neolasia

 
I'm not sure why my search di
I'm not sure why my search didn't turn it up the first time? 2006 is probably too recent to have been updated in Nomina. Actually most of the listing are for similar medical terms, but it is there.

Ev also has mentioned splitting Eulonchus into Eulonchus and Neoeulonchus. Lots of vowels in a row in that one!

 
thanks, Dennis
*

 
Questions
1 Should this be frassed if we can't find out
2 Sould we have renamed Neolasia rather than adding Lasia (or put this in Neolasia)

 
If the specimen pictured is f
If the specimen pictured is from Louisiana, then it would be Lasia purpurata like those already in the guide under the name Neolasia purpurata. The other species is found in Arizona. It would probably be impossible to tell the two apart from photos. They're both metallic green with varying highlights. You would have to go with locality.

please add the requested info!!!
Moved from ID Request.

Lasia sp.
Acroceridae (Small-headed Fly). Where was the picture taken? The genus is listed as Lasia in Nomina, but we have it as Neolasia in BugGuide. Locality could help define which of the two species this one represents. Someday I hope to see one of these beautiful flies in person. The date the picture was taken would also be useful information.

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