Genus Anthrax

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Size · Identification · Range · Season · Food · Life Cycle · Works Cited

Beeflies mating - Anthrax - male - female

Fly - Hamilton County, Ohio - Anthrax argyropygus

Anthrax oedipus showing its usually invisble characters? - Anthrax

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Diptera (Flies)

No Taxon (Orthorrhapha)

Superfamily Asiloidea

Family Bombyliidae (Bee Flies)

Subfamily Anthracinae

Tribe Anthracini

Genus Anthrax

Explanation of Names

Anthrax Scopoli 1763

Greek ανθραξ = 'coal'

Numbers

38 spp. in our area, ~250 total(1)

Size

6‒7 mm

Identification

see (2)(3)

Range

worldwide, most diverse in Eurasia & Africa; in our area, 11 spp. in the east (of which 4 transcontinental in the north), the rest are western(1)

Season

Late May — early Jul in the north

Food

Larvae feed on the larvae of solitary bees and wasps like Sceliphron and Tachysphex spp. Some have been reported parasitizing tiger beetles and megachilid bees.

Life Cycle

Females, while hovering, flip eggs into holes of ground nesting bees and wasps; larvae hatch and find stored food in cells

Works Cited

1.	Evenhuis N.L., Greathead D.J. (2015) World catalog of bee flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae) web site

2.	A revision of the Nearctic species of the albofasciatus group of the genus Anthrax Scopoli (Diptera: Bombyliidae) Marston N. 1963. Tech. Bull. Kans. St. U. Agric. Exp. Sta. 127: 1–79.

3.	Revision of New World species of Anthrax (Diptera: Bombyliidae), other than the Anthrax albofasciatus group Marston N. 1970. Smithsonian Contrib. Zool. 43: 1–148.

Contributed by Cotinis on 3 September, 2004 - 6:21am
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Joel Kits, v belov, lee_penner
Last updated 18 September, 2023 - 6:07pm

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