Pointed Bee Fly
Female: dorsal
Balaana Bee Fly
Profile
| Pointed Bee Fly Female: dorsal | | Balaana Bee Fly Profile | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) iNaturalist Observation | |||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | ||||
| Family: | Bee Fly (Bombyliidae) | ||||
| Species: | Balaana Bee Fly (Balaana abscondita) | ||||
| This Photo: | Dorsal | ||||
| Other name: | Balaana Beefly | ||||
Thank you Dr Chris Lambkin for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere ~25mm long, 19mm wing length. Very similar to B. gigantea, which can have a white dorsal lateral abdomen stripe (where the two side patches join). If the patches do join, the line is only 2 scales wide in the middle. We estimated here that, due to wear, the line "would" have been more than 2 scales wide. Further we noted a thick white lateral, ventral strip. This was key that convinced Chris that it was B. abscondita rather than B. gigantea. Unfortunately we didn't get a photo of this important characteristic. Chris also said "we have another good image of abscondita where the wing pattern does not meet the hind margin". Clearly indicating that the wing pattern normally does. Similar Species: Gigantic Balaana Bee Fly (Balaana gigantea) | |||||
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