Common Long-wings Bee Fly -
Family Bombyliidae
This page contains pictures and information about Common Long-wings Bee Flies in Subfamily Lomatiinae
that we found in
the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 16mm
- Bee Fly laying eggs in soil. Pictures taken in Karawatha Forest in mid summer.
- This Bee Fly is common in Karawatha Forest during summer season. They are usually found resting on the sandy footpath. Some are laying eggs with end tip of abdomen inserted into the soil.
- The Bee Fly is dark brown in colour with golden yellow hairs on edge of thorax and abdomen. There are the hairs between each abdomen segment. The wings are clean but with tinted brown colour.
- Bee Fly larvae are parasitic on other insects' eggs or larvae. On the sandy footpath we sometimes saw grasshopper laying eggs in soil. Some wasps also like to build their nest under sandy footpaths.
- Reference:
- 1. Revision of the Australian bee fly genus Comptosia (Diptera : Bombyliidae) - D Yeates, Invertebrate Taxonomy, 5: 1023-1178,1991
