Robber Fly - Eudioctria media

page created

[technical: Eric, the ending of albius looks weird -- is it correct spelling?]

Moved from Eudioctria.

… v belov, 9 July, 2010 - 12:15am

Thanks v. Yes, the name does

Thanks v. Yes, the name does look a bit weird but it is correct (is Walker's original spelling). Dioctria is actually a male name (= hunter); not sure what 'albius' means, probably refers to a proper name, as was originally capitalized.
Eric

… Eric Fisher, 9 July, 2010 - 12:03pm

Thanks, Eric --

that Albius is a proper name did cross my mind; but if Dioctria is masculine, then media &c feminine adjectives look inconsistent...
i spent an hour last night harmonizing specif. epithets in a moderate-sized beetle genus -- mostly checking sources to find out which gender it should be

… v belov, 9 July, 2010 - 12:11pm

Yes -- just after I posted my

Yes -- just after I posted my reply I realized the problem with "media"! I agree that eventually some changes need to be made -- assuming that Dioctria is positively masculine (I'm mostly clueless re. classical languages). "Diokter" is hunter or pursuer in Greek and is normally masculine (always??). Whatever the gender, the specific names in Dioctria (etc.) should be in agreement (though this is not really an issue for BugGuide...).

… Eric Fisher, 9 July, 2010 - 1:19pm

diokter is no doubt masculine...

...but Dioctria must be feminine -- like Alexander vs Alexandria or 'mister' vs 'mistress'... or 'dister' vs 'distress' :))
so media is correct, and we probably should leave everything as is

… v belov, 9 July, 2010 - 1:56pm

I was just thinking...If it really is

I was just thinking...If it really is 7m long, that would make it the second biggest robber fly I have ever seen!

… Arthur Scott Macmillan, 26 May, 2014 - 12:39am

Thanks - Fixed

But then, YOU didn't see it - I did :)

… Alice Cavette, 26 May, 2014 - 1:47pm

Moved

Moved from Robber Flies.

… Alice Cavette, 8 July, 2010 - 9:49pm

Eudioctria media, female.

I would have liked to see a bit more detail of the thorax and head but I will go ahead and confirm it as E. media. This is the common small Eudioctria in your are(a it looks like this and the size fits). New BugGuide record - congrats!

… Eric Fisher, 8 July, 2010 - 7:27pm

Thanks...

Thanks for your time :)

Will keep looking...

No E. media in Taxonomy so I just moved it to Eudioctria.

… Alice Cavette, 8 July, 2010 - 9:53pm

It does look like a Eudioctri

It does look like a Eudioctria sp. (E. media would be my guess); need higher resolution photo for ID. (If possible, please submit a 500-750 KB version of the image on the left.)

… Eric Fisher, 8 July, 2010 - 5:06pm

That is highest...

Those are the highest res I have. I do have a few others like "the one on the left" if you want them but no higher res.

Is there a particular area you want to see? I may have other images of that area.

Been watching all day for his/her return.

… Alice Cavette, 8 July, 2010 - 6:19pm

at least half a dozen Eudioctria spp. occur in California

according to California robber fly list

… v belov, 8 July, 2010 - 4:38pm

Thanks for Info!

BugGuide doesn't show any:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/23377/data
so that's a surprise to me.

Hope someone can id this one :)

… Alice Cavette, 8 July, 2010 - 5:01pm

our robber team is good!

re: "BugGuide doesn't show..."
BG is definitely not a source i would rely upon for range anyway; as you can see above the map, "Range and date information may be incomplete, overinclusive, or just plain wrong" -- some of which is usually the case. Conservatively, BG maps reflect an avg. of 10% of known state records for 90% of taxa.

… v belov, 8 July, 2010 - 5:10pm

Moved

Moved from Flies.

… Alice Cavette, 8 July, 2010 - 3:54pm

for the future: only names of genera and [sub]species should be italicized, never higher taxa

… v belov, 8 July, 2010 - 3:56pm

Robber Fly

Looks like a Robber Fly in the Asilidae family.

… Ilona L., 8 July, 2010 - 3:48pm

robber

depression between eyes diagnostic

… v belov, 8 July, 2010 - 3:47pm