---

Hello, and please help. A friend who takes some remarkable67photos in her garden though she is not an entomologist, showed us these photos in a facebook forum (Butterflies, Bugs, Bees and other small things).
The location is in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. It looks very un-Tabanid-like to me, but if it is not, then I don't know what it is. It is sitting on a Gazania, and I guess its body length at about 1 cm or so. Any ideas, anyone, please?
Now wish me luck with my uploadings; I am new here! :)
Hmm... Not enough wishes or not enough luck. Here goes!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152661481941661&set=pcb.642310782533092&type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152661482106661&set=pcb.642310782533092&type=1&theater

---

OK, it seems that I can post only one image at a time. Pity. You can see the originals of two pictures at the URLS I included; the second one is a more dorsal aspect.

Thanks in advance for suggestions or anything better!
Cheers,
Jon

---

Looks like a Stratiomyiidae, it is policy to post pictures and not deeplinks. Anyway, if you want me to have a look at the other pictures, you need to post them here ..
theo

---

The long proboscis and furry appearance suggest Bombyliidae to me. Some tabanids can have a long proboscis, and some can be furry, but not at the same time, as far as I know.

---

You can add pictures by replying to your own post and attaching a picture to the reply.

---

it has no pentagonal discal cell, to me venation points out for Tabanidae.
Antennae resembles Heptatoma from Palearctic zone

---

OK!
Folks, thanks a lot for the advice on posting (I have been floundering a bit :) ) If I haven't messed up (YET again!) then I shall have attached another picture which I had included only as an URL so far. I hope that helps. As John suggested, I attached it to a reply. (Silly me! Oh well!)
Thank you also for the advice and comments.
Tony, I take your points, but I didn't like the jizz for Bombyliidae. Trouble was of course, that some of the jizz for Tabanidae also wasn't good; the eyes and antennae for a start.
What REALLY was bothering me was that where I live now we rarely see any Tabanidae except an occasional Haematopota and maybe if lucky, a loooong-tongued lovely Philoliche in the mountains, but years ago in some regions we had bee-like Tabanids that taught us to slap quickly and unthinkingly, and they looked more like this one than anything I remember. But I cannot find any reference to those. Maddening!!! I'll probably see some in obvious documents and circumstances in two weeks time!
Meanwhile, of all the suggestions so far, the most persuasive was that of jorgemotalmeida. I take my hat off to anyone who could make out the venation; I certainly couldn't! I had asked my friend to try for better shots, but of course without much hope.
Now, I don't know whether Heptatoma is actually the right genus, or even closely related, but those eyes had been driving me nuts, and looking up Heptatoma in Google images did produce some with suggestive eyes, antennae, and furriness. So, while I am keen for more comments, my thanks to all, and to jorgemotalmeida in particular.
Now let's see whether thisw attachment works! I'll master it someday... :)

---

Hi Jon,
Interesting comments, your bee-like tabanids would probably belong to Mesomyia

I agree with Jorge, though Heptatoma is not found in Africa, so maybe this is an odd Mesomyia - they are quite diverse in form, but I haven't seen one with such long antennae. Maybe Theo will comment on seeing the second photo.

Steve

---

I wonder when will be launched the African Manual Diptera... :)

---

A very exciting prospect, but I think we have to be patient;) It should be finished in 2015 but maybe it wil take a little longer for publication.

http://afrotropicalmanual.net/index.html

Steve

---

Hello friends,
I had accepted with some relief that the fly should be Tabanidae, but it occurred to me that maybe, the fly having emerged near Rhodes university, their zoologists might know it more specifically. So I forwarded it to Professor Martin Villet. Generously as usual, he forwarded it to friends and colleagues, including in the UK, and to my dismay all agreed that it was Bombyliidae. Then Neal Evenhuis from Hawaii came back with: "a species of the genus Corsomyza. Which species I do not know -- there are about 20 in So Afr". Possibly brevirostris he added, which was good enough for me; I had been a bit gobsmacked even to get a genus.
Meanwhile my photographical friend had been stalking the little lady and had got some shots that showed the venation better, so I am showing one here in case anyone is interested.
Thanks a lot and hope you like it. Personally I love her work!

---

Darn! I'll get used to this lot yet!!!

---

Phew. OK, the venation is almost visible...:)

---

venation shows that cannot be a Stratiomyidae. Neither a Bombyliidae. I keep to tell that this is a Tabanidae.

---

If Neal Evenhuis says it is Bombyliidae.....

Theo

---

ops.. i overlooked the message before this last image. Then, it is really a very oddish Bombyliidae!!

---

Hi,

There is a nice illustration and description of Corsomya in Hull's monograph
http://www.biodiv...0/mode/1up

(http://www.dipter...d_id=35185)

Steve

PS At the end of the description, he quotes Hesse (1938) "females ... have a marked resemblance to some tabanids and are more often seen on flowers of composites", so that gives Jorge and I some comfort ;)

---

Well friends, given the confusion that the photos caused in these circles, I no longer feel so forlorn at having blotted my copybook so badly. I would hardly have believed that I could have confused Tabanidae with Bombyliidae so easily. And when Hesse said "females ... have a marked resemblance to some tabanids and are more often seen on flowers of composites", that consoled me greatly! So thanks a lot Steve! :)

Incidentally, the Composite (Asteraceae nowadays of course) is a Gazania, but I don't know which species.

And thanks to all of you for your generosity and patience!