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Species Tipulogaster glabrata

Robber Fly - Tipulogaster glabrata Robber Fly - Tipulogaster glabrata spider killer - Tipulogaster glabrata Robber Fly - Tipulogaster glabrata robber fly - Tipulogaster glabrata Tipulogaster glabrata - female Small Robber - Tipulogaster glabrata
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Orthorrhapha" (Brachycera excluding Aschiza and Schizophora))
Superfamily Asiloidea
Family Asilidae (Robber Flies)
Subfamily Leptogastrinae
Genus Tipulogaster
Species glabrata (Tipulogaster glabrata)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Tipulogaster glabratus (spelling/gender)
Original combination: Leptogaster badius Loew (MCZ Type Database)
Explanation of Names
Author is Wiedemann, 1828.
Size
length circa 12 mm, wingspan circa 18 mm (guide photo)
Identification
Shaped like other members of this subfamily--delicate with long, attenuated abdomen, slow flight, gleaning insects in the manner of a damselfly. Herschel Raney says of this genus/species:
Note the shellacked look of the thoracic dorsum. None of the other thin Leptogaster creatures has that feature.
See this image:
Habitat
Apparently woodlands.
Food
Like others of this group, glean stationary prey from vegetation. Sometimes take spiders in their webs--see discussion.
Print References
Brimley, p. 335, Leptogaster badius--lists from Raleigh, NC, in May (1)
Internet References
North Carolina State University--4 pinned, including from that state--only one of genus listed.
Works Cited
1.Insects of North Carolina
By C.S. Brimley