bee fly - Hemipenthes sinuosa

Moved

… edward trammel, 5 January, 2007 - 3:07pm

Wings look different.

Yours has a fairly distinct circular shape near the tip. See the difference here:

Most of the Bug Guide postings have that wing, but there are exceptions.

These guys are a bear to ID. I have better than two dozen nameless bee files thus far.

… Ron Hemberger, 3 January, 2007 - 8:56pm

bee fly

i do not even think i looked at the other Hemipenthes photos that closely, but you have a good point. for this fly (and some of my other bee flies), i was looking through Herschel's key to the eastern Bombyliidae to at least get the genus.

i think i still have a few bombyliids that i am clueless on, but being out west, i think you win with sheer numbers. it is always good to pay attention to detail, and i am always happy to hear from you on anything i post, thanks Ron.

… edward trammel, 4 January, 2007 - 9:47pm

Shot myself in the foot.

edward, I got really punchy looking at all those bee flies and forgot something very basic. It's the circular shape on the wing, as I commented on earlier.

Anyway, I think what you have here is a Sinuous Bee Fly (Hemipenthes sinuosa). The info page at Bug Guide states:

"black area of wing has irregular sinuous (wavy) border with a small rounded blob near the apex - a distinguishing feature

abdomen, thorax, and head black or very dark with no banding or other obvious markings"

Here's a good example:

… Ron Hemberger, 4 January, 2007 - 11:50pm

H. sinuosa

thanks Ron, i think you may have hit the nail on the head... i feel pretty good about moving it to the species page. also, i think bug guide has been needing a Bombyliidae expert... perhaps you... think it over.

… edward trammel, 5 January, 2007 - 3:06pm

'Fraid not

I've already turned down the North American Muscid Expert in Training position. LOL! I am as sure as I can be about your fly, but am having a heck of a time figuring mine out. I have ordered a 1973 bee fly book; perhaps it will be my silver bullet.

… Ron Hemberger, 5 January, 2007 - 5:00pm

well the book is a good first step...

… edward trammel, 5 January, 2007 - 6:09pm

Moved

Moved from Bee Flies.

… edward trammel, 27 November, 2006 - 4:02pm

I have found 6 black flies simmilar to this one.

The body has no hair and the clear part (without color) of the wing close to the bottom of the torax has a visible stretch stripe as a division of the black part and the clear part. When you open the wings you can see that it has clear spots of irregular shape at the border of the wing that is close to the center of the torax. It has also little clear dots (of circular or elliptical shape)in the black part of the wings. All its legs ends bone white color ( covering aprox. 1/32" length of each leg.) with black at the very end of the legs. It bites like a mosquito and I saw them flying with a group of mosquitos. May you help me to identify this insect. I think it is a bee fly. I never see something like this before. Size 5/16 to 3/8" of aprox. lenght(from its head to the end of its conic end abdomen.) 3/16" width aprox. of abdomen. fly head (I saw your fly head rule).
Can a fly transmit serious illnesses? Thanks for your help.

… Mrod, 16 June, 2007 - 5:26pm