Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Thecophora

Myopinae? - Thecophora fly - Thecophora - male Small Fly - Thecophora Fly 6mm, Thecophora propinqua? - Thecophora Mating flies - Thecophora thick-headed fly--Myopa vesiculosa?? - Thecophora Myopinae subfamily? - Thecophora Thecophora
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Diptera (Flies)
No Taxon ("Acalyptratae")
Superfamily Sciomyzoidea
Family Conopidae (Thick-headed Flies)
Subfamily Myopinae
Genus Thecophora
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Occemyia Robineau-Desvoidy, 1853
Explanation of Names
Author: Rondani 1845
Numbers
Nearctica lists 8 species
Identification
Small, mostly blackish, head wider than thorax, tip of abdomen curves downward, eyes red. Cheeks usually less than half the vertical eye length (Myopa usually has cheeks greater than half the eye length). Proboscis long, bent sharply forward at base and sharply backward near middle. Antennae long (Zodion has short antennae).
Habitat
Usually found on flowers in open grassy areas of forests.
Food
Adults visit composite flowers. Larvae are endoparasites of other insects.
Remarks
Thecophora are parasitic on Halictus and Lasioglossum bees.
See Also
Myopa species are usually brown to reddish.
Print References
Camras, S. (1945). A study of the genus Occemyia in North America (Diptera: Conopidae). Ann. Ent. Soc. Am. 38: 216-222. (Full Text)
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Ontario, 1966, Vol. 97, pp. 103 to 104 - parasitization
Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society, 1966, Vol. 39, #1, pp. 123 to 131 - parasitization
Internet References
1