Lasiopogon robber fly specimens

A friendly request/reminder: I'm working on a systematic revision of Lasiopogon robber flies for my dissertation, and would love any new material you guys can send my way. I've managed to find a good chunk of the Nearctic species myself over the last three years, but I can't be everywhere all the time and crowdsourcing is an amazing force in 21st century science. For example, just last month a sharp-eyed BugGuider photographed a rare new species I'm writing up, adding a new county and some ecological information to the record.
(here's the picture I'm referring to:

)

So, on the off chance any of you happen across Lasiopogon (any species) and are able to preserve them in alcohol, I would be delighted to hear from you and help arrange shipment. If you don't have access to 95% ethanol, the 90% isopropyl rubbing alcohol they sell in drugstores all over the country works, too. And if you're a take-only-photographs person, detailed locality information is also useful. Most museum specimens of these flies are 50+ years old, and we've really changed a lot of the land use since then with the growth of cities, suburbia, agriculture, river dams, etc. BugGuide records are modern by definition, and I've had success using them in ecological analyses and swinging by them on collecting expeditions.

I hope this isn't too off-topic or polarizing for this forum. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Tristan McKnight

Contributed by Tristan McKnight on 14 May, 2014 - 12:40am

Interesting

no photo on BG from Texas until now.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/51556/data
But seem to be around. Anyway I don't think I'll be able to ID the genus if I'll see one. Are they some records from Texas in museum collections?

… Iustin Cret, 17 May, 2014 - 11:21am

As far as we know, the genus

As far as we know, the genus has never been recorded in Texas (even from museum collections). That doesn't mean they don't exist-- Lasiopogon often go overlooked and there are species known from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Take a picture or capture a specimen (or take a picture of a captured specimen, ha) and we'll see. Thanks!

… Tristan McKnight, 18 May, 2014 - 10:03pm

Tristan, Just saw your post.

Tristan, Just saw your post. The Lasiopogon season maybe mostly over here as they are so early, but I will keep my eyes open for them. If you are ever through Richmond, let me know. The ones I get around here seem to be mostly marshalli as far as I can tell.

… Paul Bedell, 17 May, 2014 - 10:24am

Hi Paul, Thanks, I apprecia

Hi Paul,
Thanks, I appreciate that. I know their season has already started or finished in many areas, but with the late winter we've had this year up north I'm finding we're still several weeks behind in many places. And some species or sites don't traditionally emerge until June, July, or August. So here's hoping...
I'm probably going camping in WV (Monongahala) in August, so maybe I'll be able to swing by your area sometime then. I'll keep you posted by email.

… Tristan McKnight, 18 May, 2014 - 10:13pm

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