This thing apparently breeds in decaying cacti. I found one in Cincinnati once, way outside its normal southerly range, perhaps having come in on a nursery shipment. The previous name was Volucella mexicana, and older books still label it as such.

This makes sense Eric,

There are prckly pear cacti in the scrubbier areas of Jupiter Ridge (in fact not far from where this photo was taken)...so that would explain it:)

When I saw the picture Volucella was my first thought but checking the Manual of Nearctic Diptera I found there was only one species (possible introduced from Europe because we have it here as well), but there were also two related genera. Of these, Copestylum was the most likely option. According to the Manual the most comprehensive literature available for identification (by Curran) still treated it under Volucella.

Paul

http://www.diptera.info