Wasp Mimicking Fly
S1, dorsal
Ellura
Wasp Mimicking Fly
S4, profile
 
                      
Wasp Mimicking Fly (Agapophytus aterrimus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Flies (Diptera)
Family: Stiletto Fly (Therevidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Wasp Mimicking Fly (Agapophytus aterrimus)
This Photo:     S1, profile

Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying, Reiner Richter & Dr Martin Hauser for confirming and Dr Ken Walker & 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
1st Live Photo on-line:
Tony, who id'ed this to genus, said the strange hair on the back is "elongate scale-like setae on the scutum".
They have a large size range between ~8 to ~10mm long.
This beautiful fly has a very long mouth/proboscis and antennae. Bascially black with 2 orange/yellow bands on it's wings. Note the bright yellow halteres. The lower front tibia (middle part of the leg) does seem to have a small orange/pale band.
Ken Walker saw the observation on Bowerbird and contacted Chris Lambkin who kindly narrowed it down to species.
We photographed a copulating pair, and apart from one (we assume male) being smaller (9.5mm vs 10.5mm), we couldn't differentiate them - they looked exactly the same.

Copyright © 2017-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 04-Jan-2017
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.