Tribe Exoprosopini - Stout Beeflies
Family Bombyliidae
This page contains pictures and information about Bee Flies in Tribe
Exoprosopini
that we found in
the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- In this tribe, the beeflies have their wing vein Rs forks very close to cross vein r-m. They are large beeflies. They have stout body comparing with beeflies in other subfamilies. Their wings usually hyaline and with patterns. Their body has contrasting stripes or brilliant metallic scales.
- Exoprosopini beeflies usually land on sandy floor or low plants on sandy soil. They are active under full sun. They will fly away if disturbed, but will return to the same spot a short while later.
- Most of the Exoprosopini species have their larvae parasite on predatory and parasitic, ground-nesting wasps, such as Sphecidae, Pompilidae, Tiphiidae and Scoliidae. Some species even extend to other ground-nesting insects.
- Common Ligyra Beefly
- Ligyra satyrus, body length 20mm
- This fly is large with black grey thorax. Its abdomen is shiny-black with a ring between thorax and abdomen. There are some white pattern at the end of its abdomen. They are quite common in Brisbane bush. More information and pictures of this Bee Fly can be found in here.
- Spotted Wings Bee Fly
- Ligyra bombyliformis, body length 20mm
- Pictures taken in Karawatha Forest during mid summer. The Bee fly has dark fuscous abdomen cross by a wide band of pale yellowish hairs, and the brownish wings marked with eight dark spots.
- Reference:
- 1. Bee Fly - Ligyra pictipennis - lifeunseen.com, by Nick Monaghan
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p364 (Hyperalonia bombyliformis).
- 3. A review of the Australian species of the genus Ligyra Newman (Hyperlonia Olim) (Bombyliidae : Diptera) - SJ Paramonov, 1967.
- Exoprosopa Bee Fly
- Exoprosopa sp. or Munjua sp., body length 20mm
- Pictures taken in Karawatha Forest during mid summer.
- Reference:
- 1. A field guide to insects in Australia - By Paul Zborowski and Ross Storey, Reed New Holland, 1996, p141.
- 2. An evolutionary radiation of beeflies in semi-arid Australia: systematics of the Exoprosopini (Diptera: Bombyliidae) - Lambkin CL, Yeates DK & Greathead DJ, Invertebrate Systematics, 2003
- Exoprosopa Bee Fly
- Exoprosopa sp., body length 10mm
- Pictures were taken in Alexandra Hill bushland. The second picture shows the beeflies get caught in a spider web.
- Fenestrata Bee Fly
- Pseudopenthes fenestrata, body length 10mm
- Reference:
- 1. An evolutionary radiation of beeflies in semi-arid Australia: systematics of the Exoprosopini (Diptera: Bombyliidae) - Lambkin CL, Yeates DK & Greathead DJ, Invertebrate Systematics, 2003
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p 759.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p364.
- 3. Bee Flies (Bombyliidae) - - by Giff Beaton, 2005.
- 4. An evolutionary radiation of beeflies in semi-arid Australia: systematics of the Exoprosopini (Diptera: Bombyliidae) - Lambkin CL, Yeates DK & Greathead DJ, Invertebrate Systematics, 2003
- 5. Life history of Ligyra satyrus (Diptera: Bombyliidae) - Yeates DK, Logan D, Lambkin CL. Australian Journal of Entomology. 1999. 38: 300-304.
