big furry bee fly - Poecilanthrax tegminipennis

Moved

… Andrew Reding, 23 August, 2008 - 1:33pm

method

This may be wrong, but it resembles all of the other photos of this species with the brown wings and yellow pile and body shape (and resembles no other Poecilanthrax pictured here), plus it was photographed in the northern Adirondack Mountains, adjoining Quebec and Ontario (where the other specimens were located), and in habitat similar to the Canadian habitat because of higher elevation.

… Andrew Reding, 23 August, 2008 - 1:46pm

Andrew, how did you get this to species?

Just curious.

… Ron Hemberger, 23 August, 2008 - 1:38pm

method

… Andrew Reding, 23 August, 2008 - 1:47pm

Well, Andy's with you now and he's the expert.

After making the leap to genus, your reasoning was solid and your technique certainly worked in this instance.

For future reference, if an expert gives you a maybe on genus, it's not a good idea to ID to species on your own. More often than not, this method results in a mis-identified insect that, in turn, is used to mis-identify still more.

Congratulations for posting the first from your state, heck the first from the U.S. for that matter.

… Ron Hemberger, 23 August, 2008 - 7:36pm

This is in the Villini, but I can't figure it out. Maybe it's Poecilanthrax. I think the angle may be foreshortening the wings and throwing off the long-winged look of Poecilanthrax. Do you have any other shots? A close-up of the face could show it to be devoid of scales, the key character for Poecilanthrax.

… Andy Calderwood, 23 August, 2008 - 1:16pm

no other photo - it was hard enough getting this one!

… Andrew Reding, 23 August, 2008 - 3:03pm

I think you nailed it. P. tegminipennis is what I was thinking of, but I was hunting for my Painter & Hall revision to see if it ranged that far NE.

… Andy Calderwood, 23 August, 2008 - 3:37pm

Bee Fly -

at first I thought it might be one of the Bombylius spp, but I can't find one with all-black wings at the moment...

… Ken Schneider, 14 August, 2008 - 9:08am

Good point about bee flies.

If you have a chance, Andrew, Browse through the bee flies, paying much more attention to wing patterns than body colors/patterns.

You'll likely get an expert opinion. (If not, move your post to Bee Flies, and it's sure to be handled later.)

… Ron Hemberger, 14 August, 2008 - 9:49am