Anthrax anthrax

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Anthrax anthrax
Anthrax.anthrax.1.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Bombyliidae
Subfamily: Anthracinae
Tribe: Anthracini
Genus: Anthrax
Species:
A. anthrax
Binomial name
Anthrax anthrax
(Schrank, 1781) [1]
Synonyms

Anthrax anthrax is a species of fly in the family Bombyliidae. Unlike, for example, Bombylius major , this species does not mimic a bee. The eggs are flicked by the adult female toward the entrance of the nests of mason bees. After hatching, the larvae find their way into the nests to feed on the bee larva. A. can be found in May to August throughout mainland Europe. [2] In the Netherlands A. anthrax is a common visitor of insect hotels. [3] It was first recorded as breeding in Britain in 2019. [4]

Contents

Description

A. anthrax is a fairly large fly, the body length is 10 mm. The body is black with four white markings at tergum 2 and 3 and two white markings at the end of the abdomen. Tergum 1 is black with tufts of white hairs at the side. These tufts are visible in this picture of a hovering fly. The wings are mostly black, only the top is transparent. The veins are dark brown. The following picture was overexposed. Due to the brightly lit background the veins are visible. The newly emerged Anthrax anthrax may be found sitting on a bee hotel. Their body is dull black with more transparent wings.

Behaviour

The females may be found hovering before an insect hotel shooting eggs into the nest entrances of mason bees. [5] Occasionally females rub their abdomen with dust or sand. Dust or sand is necessary to make the eggs less tacky. To this end the females have a 'sand chamber'. [6] A. anthrax is sometimes seen hovering above a flower.

Distribution

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Georgia, Hungary, Iran, Italy.


Related Research Articles

Hover fly Family of insects

Hover flies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae (maggots) eat a wide range of foods. In some species, the larvae are saprotrophs, eating decaying plant and animal matter in the soil or in ponds and streams. In other species, the larvae are insectivores and prey on aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.

Bombyliidae Family of flies

The Bombyliidae are a family of flies. Their common name is bee flies. Adults generally feed on nectar and pollen, some being important pollinators. Larvae generally are parasitoids of other insects.

<i>Anthrax</i> (fly) Genus of flies

Anthrax is a genus of bombyliid flies, commonly known as "bee-flies" due to their resemblance to bees. Most are dull black flies, and are usually small to medium in size, 4–20 millimetres (0.2–0.8 in), and many species have striking wing patterns.

Phoridae Family of flies

The Phoridae are a family of small, hump-backed flies resembling fruit flies. Phorid flies can often be identified by their escape habit of running rapidly across a surface rather than taking to the wing. This behaviour is a source of one of their alternate names, scuttle fly. Another vernacular name, coffin fly, refers to Conicera tibialis. About 4,000 species are known in 230 genera. The most well-known species is cosmopolitan Megaselia scalaris. At 0.4 mm in length, the world's smallest fly is the phorid Euryplatea nanaknihali.

Acroceridae Family of flies

The Acroceridae are a small family of odd-looking flies. They have a hump-backed appearance with a strikingly small head, generally with a long proboscis for accessing nectar. They are rare and not widely known. The most frequently applied common names are small-headed flies or hunch-back flies. Many are bee or wasp mimics. Because they are parasitoids of spiders, they also are sometimes known as spider flies.

<i>Eristalis tenax</i> Species of fly

Eristalis tenax, the common drone fly, is a common, migratory, cosmopolitan species of hover fly. It is the most widely distributed syrphid species in the world, and is known from all regions except the Antarctic. It has been introduced into North America and is widely established. It can be found in gardens and fields in Europe and Australia. It has also been found in the Himalayas.

Eastern carpenter bee Species of insect

Xylocopa virginica, sometimes referred to as the eastern carpenter bee, extends through the eastern United States and into Canada. They are sympatric with Xylocopa micans in much of southeastern United States. They nest in various types of wood and eat pollen and nectar. In X. virginica, dominant females do not focus solely on egg-laying, as in other bee species considered to have "queens". Instead, dominant X. virginica females are responsible for a full gamut of activities including reproduction, foraging, and nest construction, whereas subordinate bees may engage in little activity outside of guarding the nest.

<i>Bombylius major</i> Species of fly

Bombylius major is a parasitic bee mimic fly. B. major is the most common type of fly within the Bombylius genus. The fly derives its name from its close resemblance to bumblebees and are often mistaken for them.

<i>Osmia bicolor</i> Species of bee

Osmia bicolor, the two-coloured mason-bee, is a Palearctic species of bee in the genus Osmia. It is outstanding amongst other megachilid bees in that it nests in empty snail shells.

Alkali bee Species of insect

The alkali bee, Nomia melanderi, is a ground-nesting bee native to deserts and semi-arid desert basins of the western United States. It was described by Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell in 1906. While solitary, these bees nest near each other and can form extremely dense aggregations in areas with favorable conditions.

<i>Andrena agilissima</i> Species of bee

Andrena agilissima is a species of mining bee. They are present in most of Europe, the Near East and North Africa and can be found from April through July. Andrena agilissima is an oligolectic species, feeding only on the pollen of a few genera of Cruciferous vegetables.

<i>Pompilus cinereus</i> Species of wasp

Pompilus cinereus, the leaden spider wasp is the most widespread species of the Pompilus spider wasps, and throughout a large proportion of its wide distribution is the only species of Pompilus. It is the type species of the genus Pompilus and therefore of the family Pompilidae.

Ashy mining bee Species of bee

The ashy mining bee, also known as the Danubian miner or grey mining bee, is a species of sand bee found in Europe. Its distinctive colouring makes it one of the most easily recognised of the genus. The females are black, with two broad grey hair bands across the thorax. The male is also black although the thorax is entirely covered with grey hairs. The male has a tuft of white hairs on the lower face and white hairs on all femora while the female has white hairs only on the front femora. The female has twelve segments to their antennae and the male has thirteen.

<i>Megachile texana</i> Species of bee

Megachile texana, the Texas leafcutter bee, is a species of bee in the family Megachilidae. It was first described by the American entomologist Ezra Townsend Cresson in 1878. It is native to the United States and southern Canada.

<i>Xylocopa sulcatipes</i> Species of bee

Xylocopa sulcatipes is a large Arabian carpenter bee. These multivoltine bees take part in social nesting and cooperative nesting. They are metasocial carpenter bees that nest in thin dead branches. One or more cooperating females build many brood cells. They have been extensively studied in Saudi Arabia and Israel.

<i>Villa modesta</i> Species of fly

Villa modesta is a species of fly in the family Bombyliidae. The larvae may feed on larvae of Lepidoptera.

<i>Bombylius canescens</i> Species of fly

Bombylius canescens, is a species of bee-fly belonging to the family Bombyliidae.

<i>Xenox tigrinus</i> Species of fly

The tiger bee fly, Xenox tigrinus, is an insect of the family Bombyliidae found in the eastern United States and southern Ontario. It formerly went by the name Anthrax tigrinus. The distinctive wing pattern may resemble tiger stripes, giving the tiger bee fly its name. Like other members of the bee fly family, the tiger bee fly parasitizes the larvae of other insects.

<i>Brachyanax</i> Genus of flies

Brachyanax is a genus of bee fly in the subfamily Anthracinae. It was circumscribed by Neal Evenhuis in 1981. Thirteen species are recognized, and they are found in Asia and Australasia.

<i>Euchariomyia</i> Species of fly

Euchariomyia is a monotypic genus of the subfamily Bombyliinae. The only species is Euchariomyia dives.

References

  1. 1 2 Schrank, F. von Paula (1781). Envmeratio insectorvm Avstriae indigenorum. Augustae Vindelicorum [=Augsburg]: Eberhardi Klett et Franck. pp. xxiv + 548 + [4] pp., 4 pls. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  2. Stubbs, A.; Drake, M. (2014). British Soldierflies and Their Allies: A Field Guide to the Larger British Brachycera. British Entomological & Natural History Society. p. 528.
  3. Breugel, P. van 2014. Gasten van bijenhotels. – EIS Kenniscentrum Insecten en andere ongewervelden & Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden.
  4. Woods, M. J (2020). "First records of breeding of the bee-fly Anthrax anthrax (Schrank) (Diptera, Bombyliidae) in Britain in 2018/2019, demonstrated by observations near Canterbury, Kent in 2019". Dipterists Digest . 27 (1): 53–59.
  5. Wijngaard, W. (2012). "Control of hovering flight during oviposition by two species of Bombyliidae". Proceedings of the Netherlands Entomological Society Meeting. 23: 9–20.
  6. Yeates, D.K. (1994). "The cladistics and classification of the Bombyliidae (Diptera : Asiloidea)". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 219.