B - Backomyia - BugGuide.Net

Moved

Moved from Robber Flies.

… Keith Bayless, 27 October, 2009 - 4:21pm

This is Backomyia sp., female

This is Backomyia sp., female.

… Eric Fisher, 27 October, 2009 - 4:00pm

Moved

Moved from Asiloidea.

… v belov, 24 October, 2009 - 5:11pm

Moved

Moved from Cyclotelus.

… Arlo Pelegrin, 12 October, 2009 - 12:55pm

Moving

to superfamily page for now.

… Arlo Pelegrin, 12 October, 2009 - 12:55pm

this is certainly a robber fly

Asilidae. you can tell by the excavated vertex between the eyes, the mystax 'beard' above the mouthparts, and by the fact that it is eating a leafhopper. I don't have my keys with me so I won't attempt a genus ID.

… Keith Bayless, 12 October, 2009 - 12:38pm

Please see

wing venation and extended 3rd antennal segment.

… Arlo Pelegrin, 12 October, 2009 - 12:54pm

those characters

may show that this is an uncommon genus, but do not conflict with Asilidae. There are 7400+ species of robber flies and they have a great diversity of antennal and wing venation morphologies. This Cyrtopogon, for instance

has a similarly elongated postpedicel (=flagellum, =3rd antennal segment). I am not sure to what you are referring with the wing venation as it is typical of many robber flies. Perhaps you are referring to the bm cell with 4 veins arising from it distally, but as you can see this is also present in the Cyrtopogon I linked above. Note that I am not sure whether your fly is Cyrtopogon. I'm sure it will be identified to genus thanks to the many detailed images you submitted.

… Keith Bayless, 12 October, 2009 - 1:41pm