Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
Clickable Guide
Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

TaxonomyBrowse
Info
ImagesLinksBooksData

Species Hemipenthes sinuosa - Sinuous Bee Fly

Chocolate bee fly - Hemipenthes sinuosa Bee Fly - Hemipenthes sinuosa Unidentified fly (?) at the Carpinteria Bluffs - Hemipenthes sinuosa Hemipenthes sinuosa Hemipenthes sinuosa ? - Hemipenthes sinuosa Sinuous Bee Fly  - Hemipenthes sinuosa 9024005 Bee fly - Hemipenthes sinuosa Sinuous Bee Fly - Hemipenthes sinuosa
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Orthorrhapha)
Superfamily Asiloidea
Family Bombyliidae (Bee Flies)
Subfamily Anthracinae
Tribe Villini
Genus Hemipenthes
Species sinuosa (Sinuous Bee Fly)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Hemipenthes sinuosa (Wiedemann 1821)
Anthrax sinuosa, Anthrax nycthemera, Anthrax concisa, Anthrax assimilis, Villa assimilis, Villa concisa, Villa nycthemera, Villa sinuosa, Hemipenthes nycthemera, Hemipenthes concisa, Hemipenthes assimilis
Explanation of Names
sinuosa = 'sinuous; winding; undulating' (refers to the border of the black area on the wing)
Size
5 to 15 mm long.
Identification
Main ID: Black area of wing has irregular sinuous (wavy) border with a small rounded blob near the apex. There is no cross vein connecting R2+3 and R4.
Abdomen, thorax, and head black or very dark with no banding or other obvious markings
Range
most of NA
Habitat
open areas with sandy or well-drained soil and sparse or low vegetation.
Boreal forests or forests with pine.
Season
All season; late May to August in the north.
Food
Larvae feed on Pine Sawflies Neodiprion species.
Life Cycle
Larva: 4.5 mm long. Smooth and flat, no hair; dusky with white head and abdomen tip. Head retracting with jaws on underside. Tubercle on sides of each segment.
Remarks
Types:
Holotype as Anthrax sinuosa female by Wiedemann, 1821. Type Locality: Georgia. In the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (Vienna), Austria.
Holotype as Anthrax nycthemera by Macquart, 1840. Type Locality: Georgia. In the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
Holotype as Anthrax concisa by Macquart, 1840. Type Locality: Carolina. In the In the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France.
Holotype as Anthrax assimilis by Macquart, 1846. Type Locality: Texas. Originally in the early Eugene Pilate Collection, destroyed by fire during Civil War in Louisiana. Pilate’s later collection is in the Dayton Museum, Ohio.
See Also
Hemipenthes jaennickeana has a nearly identical wing infuscation pattern to H. sinuosa, but it can be distinguished by the presence of a crossvein between R4 and R2+3 (which H. sinuosa lacks).
In the south, H. blanchardiana and H. scylla also have the extended brown to wing tip.
In Canada, this is the only species with extended brown to wing tip.
Print References
Diptera Exotica, 1821 by Wiedemann, pg. 244, referring to pg. 147.
Dipteres Exotiques Nouveaux ou peu Connus, 1840-45, Tome 2, Pt. 1 by Macquart, pp. 345-347.
Dipteres Exotiques Nouveaux ou peu Connus, 1845-1855, Tome 3, Pt. 3-4 by Macquart, pg. 242.
Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 1897, Vol. 5 by Packard, pp. 113-114.
Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification, 2008, #6 Bee Flies by Kits, Marshall & Evenhuis, pg. 11.
Zootaxa, 2009 #2074 by Hernandez, pp. 40-41.