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Species Vermileo opacus

Los Angeles wormlion - Vermileo opacus Los Angeles wormlion - Vermileo opacus Los Angeles wormlion - Vermileo opacus Los Angeles wormlion - Vermileo opacus wormlion - Vermileo opacus wormlion - Vermileo opacus wormlion - Vermileo opacus wormlion - Vermileo opacus - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Orthorrhapha)
Infraorder Tabanomorpha
Family Vermileonidae (Wormlions)
Genus Vermileo (Wormlions)
Species opacus (Vermileo opacus)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Pheneus opacus Coquillett, 1904
Size
Male: 5 mm; Female: 5.5 mm
Identification
Wings nearly hyaline (vs. tinged brownish in our other species, V. comstocki).
Range
CA, CO, NV, NM, ID, UT  
In the literature, specimens have been recorded from: Arroyo Seco, Pasadena, CA; Pinnacles Nat. Park, CA; Mesa Verde Nat. Park, CO; west of Carson City, NV; various locales north and east of Boise, ID; near Alamogordo, NM; Bandelier National Monument, NM; and Zion National Park, UT.
Remarks
A detailed description of the male appears in Leonard(1930); while the female was described in Pechuman(1938).
The original description by Coquillett as Pheneus opacus appeared in Baker(1904).
Print References
Baker, C. F. (1904). Diptera. Reports on Californian and Nevadan Diptera, I. Invertebrata Pacifica. 1:17-39 (Full Text)
DeLeon, Donald (1938) Notes on the Distribution of Vermileo in the United States and Mexico with a Description of a New Species. (Diptera: Rhagionidae). Ent. News 49:167-171 (Full Text)
Leonard, M. D. (1930). A revision of the dipterous family Rhagionidae (Leptidae) in the United States and Canada. Mem. Am. ent. Soc. 7:1-81 (Full Text...Vermileo treatment here)
Nagatomi, A., C. Yang, & D. Yang. (1999). The Chinese species and the world genera of Vermileonidae (Diptera). Tropics, Monograph Series I: 1-154. (Full Text)
Pechuman, L. L. (1938). A synopsis of the New World species of Vermileo (Diptera-Rhagionidae). Bull. Brooklyn ent. Soc. 33: 84-89. (Full Text)
Petersen, Wade H., and Charles W. Baker. (2006). First record of wormlions (Diptera: Vermileonidae) in Idaho. Journal of the Idaho Academy of Science, 42(1). (Text [only] can be read here)
Wheeler, William Morton (1930). Demons of the Dust. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1930.
Internet References
Curated image from the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History web site.
Short "Deep Look" video on Vermileo from television station KQED (with substantial contributions from BugGuide editor Joyce Gross :-).