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Subgenus Pachyconops (Physoconops Subgenus Pachyconops)
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Physoconops gracilis
Photo#1911048
Copyright © 2020
Sam Kieschnick
Physoconops gracilis from Texas Panhandle -
Physoconops gracilis
-
Matador Wildlife Management Area, Cottle County, Texas, USA
May 30, 2020
Thanks to Aaron Schusteff for the ID:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/48680110
Images of this individual:
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Contributed by
Sam Kieschnick
on 29 October, 2020 - 1:00pm
Last updated 29 October, 2020 - 3:59pm
Thanks for putting this series up on BugGuide, Sam
It's good to have another post of this species...as it seems to be rarely encountered (even though the literature indicates it's fairly widespread, i.e. from TX west & north to CA & CO, and south into NM, AZ, Baja California, and other parts of Mexico).
Your individual appears largely consistent with the other current post from Texas:
...though your photo shows the (dark) ocellar spot on the vertex better (presence of ocelli is another character separating
Physoconops
from
Physocephala
).
Your individual also exhibits a bit of variation from the other current posts: e.g. it has darker medial coloration on the frons [or "front", compatible w/ the 2nd sentence of the quote from Camras(1957)
here
]...and also has yellow pollinosity on the scutellum that's absent in the other current BugGuide posts for the species. Moreover, the dorsum of the thorax appears entirely black in your female, whereas there's an increasing amount of red "creeping forward medially" from the posterior margin of the thoracic dorsum in the other current posts: from TX (thumbnail above), and from AZ & CA (thumbnailed below)...though the aged museum specimens from AZ & CA are somewhat-faded:
Hopefully we'll get more live in-situ posts of this species as time goes on...to help better clarify patterns of variation, distribution, ecology, and more :-).
…
Aaron Schusteff
, 29 October, 2020 - 3:51pm
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