Villa aenea? - Villa chromolepida

Moved

These are excellent matches to the original description of V. chromolepida (here). I doubt this is a "real" Villa, but there's no better place to place it for now.

Moved from Villini.

… Joel Kits, 22 November, 2012 - 9:51pm

Thanks much, Joel!

Downloaded the Cole paper from BHL, also finally found a description of aenea.
I agree, V. chromolepida is a good match.
Neal Evenhuis commented on the metallic scales at the time, and that they make it look similar to the Eurasian Micomitra which are ant lion parasites.
This fly is still on my list and coming year I'll be looking again, hopefully meeting with success.

… Hartmut Wisch, 23 November, 2012 - 6:00pm

Wow

Another spectacular bombyliid. I'm pretty jealous of you guys in California, there is so much diversity there.

… Joel Kits, 5 December, 2007 - 4:30pm

Joel, I was similarly struck upon seeing this

little fly. The photo, however, doesn't show how parched the land was at the time, and still is. At least we've had a little rain last week, with more approaching in the next couple of days.

… Hartmut Wisch, 5 December, 2007 - 5:09pm

Classification

These little beauties will ultimately end up in some other genus, perhaps a new one. No New World genus seems to be a true fit for this critter.

As always, a great shot! So lush. Thanks.

Maybe we should put together a coffee table book of Bee Flies. Do they even make coffee table books anymore?

… Andy Calderwood, 4 December, 2007 - 10:36am

Thanks,

reminds me of a joke I heard in Paris, but too wordy for bugguide.
Re. this fly, I can see that it doesn't exactly fit into Villa , but just wonder whether this is what is meant by V. aenea in Cole & Schlinger,p.247 (1968) - not much of a description there -, or whether this is a totally different beast.

… Hartmut Wisch, 4 December, 2007 - 12:44pm

I think that I've seen this labeled somewhere as Villa (or Chrysanthrax, or whatever) chromolepida. I don't know aenea, so cannot evaluate a comparison. This fly only has one or two close relatives, if any. It is very strange.

… Andy Calderwood, 11 December, 2007 - 3:00pm

Thanks again, Andy!

There's a brief mention of both V. aenea and chromolepida (in Cole & Schlinger). Perhaps I'll find a specimen out at UC Riverside.

… Hartmut Wisch, 11 December, 2007 - 11:28pm