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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Orthorrhapha » Asiloidea » Micro Bee Flies (Mythicomyiidae)

Family Mythicomyiidae - Micro Bee Flies

Representative Images

Micro Bee Fly on the sink mythicomyiid Tiny desert fly - Mythicomyia Bombyliidae. I believe Micro Bee Fly on Acamptopappus - female Mythicomyiidae? Mythicomyiidae, swept on Santa Catalina Island Mythicomyiidae, swept on Santa Catalina Island

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon (Orthorrhapha)
Superfamily Asiloidea
Family Mythicomyiidae (Micro Bee Flies)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

used to be treated as a subfamily of Bombyliidae(1)

Explanation of Names

Mythicomyiidae Melander 1902

Numbers

At least 175 spp. in 7 genera in our area (the vast majority in Mythicomyia); ~350 spp. in 25 genera worldwide(1)

Identification

Similar to Bombyliidae but the adult thorax is with bristles not strongly developed, bristles on legs other than apical bristles lacking, cells br and bm usually equal in length or nearly so, vein R2+3 absent or short, ending in R1, and R4+5 unbranched, R5 absent.

Food

Larvae of Mythicomyia are gregarious parasites of solitary bees; Glabellula are possible predators (free-living or inhabiting ant nests); the exotic Psiloderoides prey on grasshopper egg pods(2)

Print References

Works Cited

1.Catalog of the Mythicomyiidae of the World (Insecta: Diptera)
Neal L. Evenhuis. 2002. Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu.
2.Evenhuis N.L. (ed.) Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian regions (online version)
3.Homeodactyla and Asilomorpha: Bombyliidae, Vol. 5, Part 13, in 'Flies of the Nearctic Region', edited by G. C. D. Griffiths
Jack C. Hall & Neal L. Evenhuis. 1980. E. Schweizerbartsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart.
4.Bee Flies of the World: The Genera of the Family Bombyliidae
Hull, Frank M. 1973. Smithsonian Institution Press.
Contributed by Matthias Buck on 11 August, 2008 - 8:24am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Aaron Schusteff, Vox Sciurorum, v belov, Arturo Santos
Last updated 22 June, 2023 - 7:06pm

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