Species Eccritosia zamon

Proctacanthus zamon Townsend, 1895 (ITIS)

Eccritosia zamon (Townsend 1895)

21-27 mm (Townsend, 1895)

Appearance distinctive--see images. Quoting original description (Townsend, 1895):

A stout species with large thorax. Head blackish, front with black hair; face more yellowish, with long pale yellow beard, extending on the cheeks. First antennal joint black; second and third brown, subequal, shorter than first, style longer than antennae. Thorax soft brownish black, with an indistinct pair of median vittae, having a narrow reddish line between them anteriorly which may extend to scutellum. A reddish line extending inward on suture from root of wings, and a line outside median vittae posteriorly. A whitish spot inside the humeri. Humeri, edges of thoracic dorsum, and the scutellum brown, the latter with bristly black hair, hind margins of thorax with black macrochaetae. First two abdominal segments blackish with blackish pile, the second usually with a yellow hind margin; rest of abdomen yellow, with yellow pile which is chiefly on third and fourth segments. Some yellow pile on hind margin of second segment in both sexes Terminal segments with a deeper yellow tinge. Abdomen tapering in both sexes, more so in female, ovipositor rather small and spinose, hypopygium small. Legs chestnut brown, with black hair and black macrochaetae, the hind tibiae conspicuously yellowish with yellow hair, the hind tarsi pale brownish. Pulvilli broadly yellowish on borders. Wings subhyaline, very evenly tinged with smoky.

AZ-TX to Panama(1); BugGuide records from LA, FL.

Mimics orchid bees, in particular Eulaema polychroma.

Townsend, C.H. Tyler. 1895. On the Diptera of Baja California, Including Some Species from Adjacent Regions. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences (2nd series) 4: 593-620 (BHL).