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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Orthorrhapha » Asiloidea » Bee Flies (Bombyliidae) » Toxophorinae » Geron

Genus Geron

Classification · Explanation of Names · Numbers · Identification · Range · Food · Life Cycle · Remarks · See Also · Print References · Works Cited

Orange County Bee Fly Archives #103 - Geron

Subgenus Geron (Geron Subgenus Geron) - Geron

Orange County Bee Fly Archives #132 - Geron - female

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 Toxophorinae

Genus Geron

Explanation of Names

Geron Meigen 1820

Greek 'old man' (imagine a humpbacked man carrying a cane)

Numbers

~35 spp. in 2 subgenera in our area, >170 spp. in 4 subgenera worldwide(1)(2)

Identification

Humpbacked appearance, conical abdomen, long antennae with a tapered 3rd segment, 3 posterior cells.

Range

Worldwide and across NA(1)

Food

Parasitoids (?endo) of larvae or pupae of Noctuidae, Psychidae, Pyralidae & Tortricidae in concealed situations, also hyperparasitoids

Life Cycle

Larvae are parasites of other insects: they have been reported on several species of moths.

Adults take nectar at flowers, especially sunflowers (Asteraceae).

Unlike many other bombyliids, Geron will often bob up and down above an inflorescence prior landing to nectar. Males often form loose swarms. (2)

Remarks

The only member of the tribe Gerontinae(1)

See Also

Members of Usiinae (e.g. Apolysis) have blunt-tipped antennae (pointed in Geron) --compare(3). Phthiriinae have four posterior cells (e.g. see here).

Print References

Painter, R. H. (1932). A Monographic Study of the Genus Geron Meigen as It Occurs in the United States (Diptera: Bombyliidae). Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc. 58 (2): 139-168 (1st page at JSTOR)

Works Cited

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

2.	Review of the subgenus Geron (Geron) Meigen in the Nearctic Region (Diptera: Bombyliidae: Toxophorinae) Hall J.C., Evenhuis N.L. 2003. Zootaxa 181: 1-72.

3.	The Bee Flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae) of Ontario, with a Key to the Species of Eastern Canada

Contributed by Tony DiTerlizzi on 16 January, 2005 - 9:37pm
Additional contributions by Beatriz Moisset, Robin McLeod, Hartmut Wisch, Aaron Schusteff, Vox Sciurorum, v belov
Last updated 23 June, 2015 - 7:41am

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