3 Spotted Black Bee Fly
S2, posterior
Ellura
3 Spotted Black Bee Fly
S2, ventral
 
                      
3 Spotted Black Bee Fly (Anthrax incomptus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Flies (Diptera)
Family: Bee Fly (Bombyliidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: 3 Spotted Black Bee Fly (Anthrax incomptus)
This Photo:     S2, Head, ventral

Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying and Tony Daley for helping with the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~11mm long. We thought this was Anthrax torulus, as the wing patterns were a match, but Tony D said "While wing markings here are very similar to that species, the abdomen dorsally is said to have no white hairs/scales beyond the first visible tergite."
Chris then said "The posterior margin of wing is hyaline, not brown." She also said "The circlet of hairs on the apex of the antennae is the diagnostic character for the tribe Anthracini to which Anthrax and Thraxan and Brachyanax belong in Australia, the bulbous base on the antennae is also notable but varies a bit between genera and species."

Copyright © 2023-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 23-Feb-2023
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.