Big Red
Male Thorax, close up
Adelaide Hills
Big Red
Female, dorsal
 
                      
Big Red (Neoaratus hercules)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Flies (Diptera)
Family: Robber Fly (Asilidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Big Red (Neoaratus hercules)
This Photo:     Male, ventral

Thank you Dr Chris Cohen for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Adelaide Hills and possibly elsewhere
Male ~40mm long, while the female was a little shorter at ~35mm.
The male is easy to identify based on size & wing shape. The female doesn't have the bulbous mid wing of the male, but we assume it's the same species based on other features & the fact this male is the only robberfly that comes to this size in the area.
Usually the mouth part/proboscis looks thick and we couldn't understand how it pierced it's prey. But here you can see it's somewhat telescopic. It retracts the sharpest point most of the time, but it's extended here.

Copyright © 2017-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 16-Jan-2017
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.