Adelaide's Bee Fly
S1, Wing Venation & Body
Ellura
Adelaide's Bee Fly
S1, Proboscis & Palps
 
                      
Adelaide's Bee Fly (Kapu adelaidica)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Flies (Diptera)
Family: Bee Fly (Bombyliidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Adelaide's Bee Fly (Kapu adelaidica)
This Photo:     🔍S1, Thorax🔎

Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
1st Record in SA on Atlas:
~13.5mm long
It's so worn & on it's last legs when we caught it. It died soon after. It has a very "blow fly" like pattern on it's abdomen.
It's name is a little funny as Chris told us "Its a very widespread species, described by a Frenchman from 'Adelaide' in 1855.
She also said "Shiny scales on thorax, yellowish. Some yellow scales anteriorally T2, mostly dark scales dorsally, white band T3 and T5-6. White sternal scales S2-3, reddish S4 and S5-7."

Copyright © 2023-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 17-Jan-2023
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.