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Photo#175033
Possible Ceriini Syrphid Flies - Physoconops gracilis - male - female

Possible Ceriini Syrphid Flies - Physoconops gracilis - Male Female
Llano County, Texas, USA
August 23, 2007

Moved
Moved from Subgenus Pachyconops.

I'm pretty well convinced this is P. gracilis. It clearly lacks any indication of the complete post-vertical pollinose stripe of P. townsendi, which is the only other candidate in Pachyconops here.

Moved to subgenus Pachyconops...may be P. gracilis
Moved from Physoconops.

My best shot at species here would be Physoconops gracilis, which Camras (see here) stated replaces P. brachyrynchus (which this vaguely resembles) in the west and differs in being typically more reddish (again, apropos here).

In particular, except for what cannot be seen in the photo (i.e. the face, cheeks, and pleura) all esle agrees very well with Williston's 1885 description of P. gracilis here.

And it does seem to go to P. gracilis in Camras's keys...again, modulo the characters of face and cheeks that aren't visible in the photo (and bypassing the many(!) taxa that only occur south of the U.S.).

This looks like
a good example of wasp mimicry to me (Batesian?)...

ID
Conopidae: Physocephala sp.

 
it's Physoconops
according to the Manual of Nearctic diptera: Physoconops have regularly thickened hind femora, and physocephala have distinctly irregularly thickened hind femora. compare this fly's hind femora to those found on this fly

 
Thanks. I should have said,
Thanks. I should have said, "looks like Physocephala sp." or something along those lines. I did not mean to imply certainty.

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