Orange-backed Robber Fly
S14, Female, Wing Venation
Orange-backed Robber Fly
S6, Male, Face
Animals
Plants
Info
| Orange-backed Robber Fly S14, Female, Wing Venation | | Orange-backed Robber Fly S6, Male, Face | | ||
Animals Plants Info |
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | ||||||||||||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | |||||||||||||
| Family: | Robber Fly (Asilidae) iNaturalist Observation | |||||||||||||
| Species: | Orange-backed Robber Fly (Mauropteron pelago)| This Photo: | 🔍S9, Female, Closed Wing Venation🔎 | Thank you Stephen Fricker, Mark Hura, Dr Chris Cohen & David Muirhead (DaveMMDave) for confirming and (Asiola) for helping with the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere Males ~29mm long, females ~34mm long. The genders can be differentiated by the male have a bulbous clasp at the end of it's "tail". The female has a thin posterior to the abdomen. The orange on top of the abdomen is surprisingly difficult to see. Obvious in flight if it's below you, or when it's cleaning itself When asking Asiola (iNat Handle refering to a genus of robber flies) the difference between M. pelago & Colepia rufiventris they kindly replied "All of the tibiae in pelago are the paler than the femora, in rufiventris only the hind tibiae are paler. (I've deliberately not used any colours). The pattern on the top of the thorax is much better defined in pelago than in rufiventris. And colour can vary, the age of the specimen and lighting are but two factors. The genitalia also differ." Notice here the all the tibiae are paler than all the femora (on each species). To use it looks like the femora are all black. Confirming none of these specimens are C. rufiventris. We checked our 17 obs, and all match M. pelago leg patterns. Looking on Atlas, the distribution of C. rufiventris seems much more coastal (cooler & wetter) than inland. While a southern species Mauropteron pelago ventures into the interior; as well as also inhabiting coastal regions.
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