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Photo#570060
Lepidophora - Lepidophora lutea

Lepidophora - Lepidophora lutea
Kleinburg, Southern Ontario, Ontario, Canada
August 29, 2011
Some kind of Lepidophora. Did not like the flash at all! It's a pretty bad photo, so I'll frass it once I get confirmation.

Moved
Moved from Frass.

How come no one said anything about
the caterpillar in the lower right??

 
Ha!...
Didn't even notice that!

Frassed
Moved from ID Request.

 
Fine image
This photo needs cropping and then it would be worth keeping. There are many Lepidophora images more deserving of frassing than this one. See:

The plant looks like goldenrod and I can see a goldenrod round gall just below the fly.

yep
That is the correct genus, and two species are Eastern N.AM. However, I can't seem to find a key handy. I just shot one in KY and have yet to classify that day's photos. I'll get back to you if I can find something definitive on sp.

 
_Lepidophora lutea_ Painter, 1962
Given the comments here:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/9004

and in particular, "...the eastern forms are less so and may with future study be shown to be subspecies. In the northern form [ie. lutea] the pale scales are mostly yellow and there are abundant yellow scales on the sides of the fourth abdominal segment. In the more southern form [ie. lepidocera] the pale scales are white or pale yellow and usually no pale scales are evident on the fourth abdominal segment."

Which comes from:

Painter, Reginald H. and Elizabeth M. Painter. 1962. Notes on and Redescriptions of Types of North American Bombyliidae (Diptera) in European Museums. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, V35, N1(Jan., 1962): 2-164.

I'd call this:

Bombyliidae, Lepidophora lutea Painter, 1962

I grabbed the above paper and Lepidophora coverage begins on page 50, with this species account on page 51. On page 51, the authors state, "This species is distinguished from lepidocera by the presence of yellow instead of white hairs and scales and by the presence of yellow scales on the sides of the fourth abdominal segment."

Also pertinent is the fact that in the paper, the authors mention, "This species is known to occur also in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Ontario."

None of these locations are noted in the species description here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/12852


Unfortunately, there isn't much for this genus in The Bee Flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae) of Ontario, with a Key to the Species of Eastern Canada at:

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/kme_06/key_gen.html

as a side note, I can also confirm this is the same species I just shot last week in Kentucky.

 
gosh....
thanks for your in-depth response... maybe I wont frass it just yet!

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