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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Orthorrhapha » Asiloidea » Robber Flies (Asilidae) » Asilinae » Giant Robber Flies (Promachus) » Promachus vertebratus
Photo#129606
Promachus sp? - Promachus vertebratus - male
Copyright © 2007 Will Chatfield-Taylor

Promachus sp? - Promachus vertebratus - Male
Prairie Center, Johnson County, Kansas, USA
July 22, 2007
I think this is a different species than P. vertebratus, the tibia are red and the eyes look different. I was amazed to see a Robber, not this one, take down and instantly kill a female Common Whitetail!
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Contributed by Will Chatfield-Taylor on 22 July, 2007 - 5:59pm
Last updated 8 January, 2020 - 11:07am

Moved
Moved from Giant Robber Flies.
… norman and cheryl lavers, 21 November, 2009 - 4:44pm login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Robber Flies.
… Herschel Raney, 2 November, 2009 - 1:02pm login or register to post comments

Promachus
Well, the eyes are not very helpful and in life can be an amazing range of colors based on the light. The tibia in vertebratus are supposed to be contrasting with the femurs and may be orange to reddish. There are two species in KS that I know nothing about and don't have info on, P. dimidiatus and P. oklahomensis. Whether they are in the bastardii group or the hinei group is unknown to me as well. And I have seen Promachus in this group take adult Halloween Pennants.
… Herschel Raney, 22 July, 2007 - 8:43pm login or register to post comments

 
Well..
I sent the photo to an expert who might be able to ID it for us. Alas, his specialty is European Asilids, so he might not be able to, but a positive ID plus his comments would be invaluable to Bugguide in terms of identification.
… Will Chatfield-Taylor, 23 July, 2007 - 12:04am login or register to post comments

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