Blue-porcelain Robber Fly
Female, profile
Blue-porcelain Robber Fly
Female, Stance
| Blue-porcelain Robber Fly Female, profile | | Blue-porcelain Robber Fly Female, Stance | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | ||||
| Family: | Robber Fly (Asilidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Blue-porcelain Robber Fly (Dasypogoninae sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | Male, profile & Stance | ||||
Thank you Dr Chris Cohen for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere The males have a Blue-porcelain coloured body. 1. Thick, glabrous arista 2. White halteres 3. Orange around the leg joints 4. Shiny black upper abdomen 5. Grey under abdomen & body. Possibly thick short grey hair, hiding the 'skin' colour 6. A strange propensity to stand head down bum up. 7. ~9 to ~11mm long; some slightly smaller than others. 8. Significant swelling "seams" down the side; longitudinal wrinkles that seem to allow the abdomen to swell up. When gravid or large meal? 9. Long rear & middle legs, with thick thighs, supporting their propensity to stand head down. 10. Brushed hind legs. We thought this might be Harpagobroma genus, but Chris lifted our id up to sub-family level, saying: "Because an apical spine appears to be present on the fore tibia, this is either Austrosaropogon or the undescribed genus Saropogina." "Although I'll note that Saropogina and Harpagobroma are likely closely related, differing mostly by the presence/absence of the fore tibial spur." Chris also confirmed the male shown here is also probably the same species as the female. | |||||
| |||||
| |||||