Maybe they are good enough for a species ID.
Anyway, I was not that excited about these because the same day I saw an absolutely beautiful bright yellow-and-black robber. It was too wary for me to approach closely, but man! I will keep my eyes peeled for that in the future.
-Sean McCann


triatoma.blogspot.com

Okay, Florida has 10 species of Proctacanthus. I can eliminate several because I know them and, well, this is not them. Several others can be eliminated by season and by description. The only remaining species are brevipennis and gracilis. P brevipennis is an April and May species in the southeast but is supposed to have noncontrasting femora and tibias. I let you call that one here. And I have no description of gracilis but it flew in June and July in the Georgia paper of Fattig from 1945. It is a species limited to GA FL AL MS NC SC.

I believe this specimen is P. brevipennis due to the strongly marked thorax and the bicolored legs. Hine's 1911 Promachus/Proctacanthus article states that for brevipennis, "legs brown, tibia and tarsi lighter than the femora, which are nearly black before and brown behind." The description goes on to say that "the small size and plainly differentiated thoracic markings are usually sufficient to place specimens of this species."
Of course, Hines's article was published before P. gracilis was described, in Bromley (Psyche, 1928). A couple things that stand out in Bromley's description of P. gracilis are a "dark red median line" on the thorax and "legs reddish with black bristles and fine pale hairs, the tarsi darker in color." So it seems this specimen is Proctacanthus brevipennis.

Thanks! I will throw it that way.

I wouldn't want to go out on a limb with the ID.
-Sean McCann


triatoma.blogspot.com

I have forgotten again to check the Florida early species. Will do.

The yellow and black one you chased is likely the Laphria floridanus that Bromley never finished describing. Closely related to our Laphria macquarti. It is the big early Florida Laphria.

images. See here.

If I'm not mistaken, Proctacanthus means "spiny butt" in Latin.
-Sean McCann


triatoma.blogspot.com

The Greek πρωκτος is the source of the first half of proctology, and ακα&nuθα is the Greek word for "thorn", so if they were converted to Latin spelling, combined and the ending changed it might be close. Of course, ακανθος is the name for a specific plant (think of the leafy ornamentation on the top of Greek columns), and the Greek word ακανθινος / Latin acanthinos is closer in meaning to "spiny"- but this is all speculation- I don't know for sure.

The females of this genus indeed have a cluster of sharp hairs or bristles on the terminus.