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Photo#686244
Conopidae- Thick-headed flies, ID Please - Physoconops excisus - female

Conopidae- Thick-headed flies, ID Please - Physoconops excisus - Female
Skidaway Island, Savannah, Chatham County, Georgia, USA
August 7, 2012
This fly was nectaring on Clasping Heliotrope, Heliotropium amplexicaule. I locate what I believe is this species fairly often feeding amongst the shallow nectar sources Dill and Clasping Heliotrope. I believe it is in the genus,"Physoconops or Physocephala" as often noted in BugGuide. Is there an exterior identification point that I might zero in on when photographing that will assist in rendering a genus ID?

Images of this individual: tag all
Conopidae- Thick-headed flies, ID Please - Physoconops excisus - female Conopidae- Thick-headed flies, ID Please - Physoconops excisus - female Conopidae- Thick-headed flies, ID Please - Physoconops excisus - female 20120807_7937 2 Conopidae, Thick-headed Flies,  Physocephala sp - Physoconops excisus - female 20120807_7937 2 Conopidae, Thick-headed Flies,  Physocephala sp - Physoconops excisus - female

Moved
Moved from Subgenus Pachyconops.

For a long time I'd been unclear on the confusing situation among the cluster of Florida Physoconops consisting of P. floridanus, P. weemsi, P. excisus, and what seemed to be possibly "disjunct" members of the supposedly southwest species P. townsendi (and apparently I'm not alone in the latter idea...see the last line of this University of Lund record). For instance, your other post below, which exhibits abdominal color mostly red instead of black, seems in that aspect a better candidate for P. townsendi that P. excisus:

 

...except the dark black pattern of the frons (and the East Coast location) are more in line with P. excisus.

But it's become clear to me that some of the posts I was hesitant about (like yours here) are indeed P. excisus. And at this point the "complete post-vertical pollinose stripe" and color pattern characters of the frons, face, thorax, and abdomen I can now confidently place this as P. excisus. (The ones that are still tricky for me are P. weemsi and P. floridanus...but I hope to sort them out too.)

 
Aaron-thank you for your tire
Aaron-thank you for your tireless pursuit, that midnight oil that has led to a species identification, Physoconops excisus - Female. This is most exciting, indeed!

Moved
Moved from Physoconops.

Moved
Moved from Conopinae.

 
Aaron- thank you for having v
Aaron- thank you for having vetted my submission and rendering the genus ID, "Physoconops"

Moved
Moved from ID Request.