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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » "Orthorrhapha" (Brachycera excluding Aschiza and Schizophora) » Asiloidea » Robber Flies (Asilidae) » Dasypogoninae » Hanging-thieves (Diogmites)

Genus Diogmites - Hanging-thieves

Classification · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Print References · Internet References · Works Cited

Flying Insect ID Request - Diogmites properans

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 Dasypogoninae

Genus Diogmites (Hanging-thieves)

Other Common Names

Hanging Flies, Prairie Robber Fly (D.angustipennis)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Deromyia

Explanation of Names

Author of genus is Loew, 1866. The genus name Diogmites appears to have been a classical Roman term (from Greek?) meaning "agents of the police", or "bandit chasers". Perhaps "bounty hunter" or "millitia-men" is an appropriate translation. The original Greek term is διωγμοσ, meaning pursuit. (Etymology is based on Based on Internet searches, and, especially, the text of Duruy, 1883, History of Rome, and of the Roman people, volume 1, p. 417, images available on GoogleBooks.)

The common name was suggested by Robber-fly aficionados Herschel Raney and/or Joshua Rose after Dogmites's habit of hanging by its forelegs while consuming prey.

Numbers

Nearctica.com lists 24 species for North America.

Size

Typically 20-30 mm, D. crudelis to 48 mm body length in Florida (Artigas, 1966).

Identification

A genus of medium-large, thin, robber flies. Usually reddish-brown with green eyes. Have long legs. Often hangs by legs from twig to consume prey. Some species are distinctively patterned, and can be identified in the field. (See Internet references.)

Range

Includes eastern and central North America. Seems to be more common in south, apparently absent from upper great plains, northeast? Genus is found in Central and South America as well.

Habitat

Woodlands, and more open areas (?)

Season

Mid-summer to early fall. July-September, sometimes November (various species, Georgia). July-September (D. misellus, D. crudelis, North Carolina)

Food

Predatory on other insects, often other Asilidae as well as hymenoptera. Possibly somewhat nocturnal? (P. Coin has seen one under a light in North Carolina, and there is a report in the literature of nocturnal feeding.)

Life Cycle

Genus is known to have courtship behavior. Oviposits in ground, and ovipositor equipped with spines to aid in covering eggs. Larvae are possibly predators in soil, but specific information is lacking for this genus in references seen to date (P. Coin, July 2006).

Print References

Arnett, p. 877 (1)

Salsbury, p. 396--photo D. angustipennis (2)

Brimley, p. 336 (Deromyia), 1st supplement (1942) p. 25--Diogmites (3)

Dennis, 1978, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, 80:313--nocturnal foraging (from an Internet search)

Artigas, The Genus Diogmites in the Eastern United States. THE OHIO JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 66(4): 401, July, 1966. (available here)

Internet References

Herschel Raney's page

Univ. Kentucky Critter Case Files

Florida Nature

Greg Lasley--photos of this and other Asilidae from Texas

Robber Flies of Illinois--several pages on the genus, photos of specimens

Asilid Literature Update--Univ. Wyoming

North Carolina State University Entomology Collection lists 9 species from that state. Most common in collection are crudelis (20 pinned) and misellus (36 pinned).

Works Cited

1.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico By Ross H. Arnett

2.	Insects in Kansas By Glenn A. Salsbury and Stephan C. White

3.	Insects of North Carolina By C.S. Brimley

Contributed by Cotinis on 5 July, 2004 - 8:41am
Last updated 5 July, 2007 - 9:59am

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