Posted by Cor Zonneveld on 01-01-2009 10:56
#1
I spent Christmas this year down under - at 35 C a rather unchristmaslike experience! Luckily, nature compsensated for this. Here's a Bombyliidae from my first day. I'm familiar with black in this family, not orange! (3 out of four Tabanids had also fully orange abdomens - what makes orange so special here?)
The shape of hte head is also unexpected for me; the head normally does not extend that far behind the eyes (in my limited experience).
So what can be said about this fly? Subfamily/tribe level perhaps? Or even genus??
Habitat: open place in woodland, near flood plain.
Edited by Cor Zonneveld on 01-01-2009 11:29
Posted by David Gibbs on 01-01-2009 12:59
#2
Looks very like
Petrorossia, however the tribe Xeramoebini is represented in Australia by only two undescribed species of
Petrorossia (Lambkin
et.al. 2003) so it is presumably one of these.