Bombyliidae

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Bombyliidae

Lepidophora lepidocera

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Diptera
Suborder:	Brachycera
Superfamily:	Asiloidea
Family:	Bombyliidae Westwood, 1838

Subfamilies

Many, among them :

Anthracinae
Antoniinae
Bombyliinae
Cythereinae
Ecliminae
Heterotropinae
Homoeophthalmae
Lomatiinae
Phthiriinae
Systropinae
Tomomyzinae
Toxophorinae
Usiinae

Bombyliidae is a large family of flies with hundreds of genera, although their life cycles are not well known. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, thus are pollinators of flowers. They superficially resemble bees, thus are commonly called bee flies, and this may offer the adults some protection from predators.

The larval stage are predators or parasitoids of other insect eggs and larvae. The adult females usually deposit eggs in the vicinity of possible hosts, quite often in the burrows of beetles or wasps/solitary bees. Where most often in the insect world parasitoids are highly specific in the host species that they will infect, it is thought that bombyliids are opportunistic and will use a variety of hosts.

While bombyliids have a great variety of species, rarely are individuals of any one species abundant, and this is perhaps one of the poorest known families of insects relative to its size. There are at least 4,500 described species, and probably thousands as of yet undescribed.

Species include:

Major bee-fly (Bombylius major)
Williston's bee-fly (Poecilanthrax willistoni)
Bomber fly (Heterostylum robustum)

[edit] Genera

This list is probably incomplete.

Acanthogeron Bezzi, 1925
Amictus Wiedemann, 1817
Anastoechus Osten-Sacken, 1877
Anthrax Scopoli, 1763
Antonia Loew, 1856
Aphoebantus Loew, 1872
Apolysis Loew, 1860
Bombylisoma Rondani, 1856
Bombylius Linnaeus, 1758
Caecanthrax Greathead, 1981
Callostoma Macquart, 1840
Cononedys Hermann, 1907
Conophorus Meigen, 1803
Cyllenia Latreille, 1802
Cyrtosia Perris, 1839
Cytherea) Fabricius, 1794
Desmatoneura Williston, 1895
Eclimus Loew, 1844
Empidideicus Becker, 1907
Exhyalanthrax Becker, 1916
Exoprosopa Macquart, 1840
Geron Meigen, 1820
Glabellula Bezzi, 1902
Hemipenthes Loew, 1869
Heteralonia Rondani, 1863
Legnotomyia Bezzi, 1902
Lepidophora Westwood, 1835
Ligyra Newman, 1841
Lomatia Meigen, 1822
Micomitra Bowden, 1964
Neobombylodes Evenhuis, 1978
Oligodranes Loew, 1844
Pachyanthrax François, 1964
Parageron Paramonov, 1929
Petrorossia Bezzi, 1908
Phthiria Meigen, 1803
Platypygus Loew, 1844
Plesiocera Macquart, 1840
Prorachthes Loew, 1868
Satyramoeba Sack, 1909
Spogostylum Macquart, 1840
Stomylomyia Bigot, 1888
Systoechus Loew, 1855
Thyridanthrax Osten Sacken, 1886
Toxophora Meigen, 1803
Usia Latreille, 1802
Veribudo Evenhuis, 1978
Villa Lioy, 1864

[edit] References

Hull, F.M. ,1973. Bee flies of the world. The genera of the family Bombyliidae.Washington (Smithsonian Institution Press) 687 pp. Keys subfamilies, genera (generic placements conroversial).
Evenhuis, N.L.,1991.Catalog of genus-group names of bee flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae) Bishop Museum Bulletin of Entomology5: 1–105.
Bowden, J.,1980 Family Bombyliidae. pp. 381–430. In R.W. Crosskey (ed.), Catalogue of the Diptera of the Afrotropical Region, 1437 pp., London: British Museum (Natural History)
Engel, E.O., 1932-1937. Bombyliidae. In: Die Fliegen der paläarktischen Region 4(3) ( Erwin Lindner, ed.): 1-619, pl. 1-15. E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart.). Old and outdated, not easy to get and expensive but the only key to the Palaearctic region.
Greathead & Evenhuis (Greathead, D.J., & N.L. Evenhuis, 1997. Family Bombyliidae. In: Contributions to a manual of Palaearctic Diptera Volume 2 (L. Papp & B. Darvas, eds.): 487-512. Science Herald, Budapest.) provide a key to the Palaearctic genera and (may) give references to available generic revisions.