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Photo#999283
?bee or fly - Physoconops - female

?bee or fly - Physoconops - Female
sanford, seminole County, Florida, USA
September 21, 2014
Size: <1 inch

Images of this individual: tag all
?bee or fly - Physoconops - female ?bee or fly - Physoconops - female

Moved

Moved
Moved from Subgenus Pachyconops.

I was already convinced this is either P. floridanus or P. weemsi. And even without a clear enough view to determine whether the color of the facial grooves is dark or pale (yellow)...upon noting that the theca is "distinctly longer than its tergite" (cf. key at end of Camras (2007)); and that the cheeks are red...I think that decides for P. floridanus (cf. description of P. floridanus in Camras (1955)).

 
Hi Aaron, this one has the ch
Hi Aaron, this one has the cheeks reddish. Shouldn't this be a different species, as P. floridanus has them yellowish? In addition, the facial grooves appear to be yellowish instead of darker.

Moved
Moved from Conopinae.

Nice post, Jim...this is a female Physoconops
Jim, this is a fly in the family Conopidae...not a bee, as Ken recognized in moving your post here. Members of this family are wasp-mimics.

The uniform-width hind femora and relatively long 3rd antennal segment indicate this is in the genus Physoconops.

This is one of the tricky ones to ID to species in Florida. There are 4 similar-looking candidates: P. floridanus, P. weemsi, P. excisus, and P. townsendi. All of these species can have substantial red coloration, and very large theca (= banana-like protuberance curving forward from below the 5th abdominal segment). The theca here appears exceptionally long, which would make me lean towards P. floridanus.

We could conclusively settle the ID to species if, by chance, you got some other photos (or still could in the coming days) showing the "facial grooves" (see the areas labelled "fg" in the thumbnail below):



In particular, if the "facial grooves" were dark, then this would be P. floridanus for sure.

 
many thanks Aaron, will look
many thanks Aaron, will look through my images

Moved for expert attention
Moved from ID Request.

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