bee-mimic robber flies
(Laphria spp.)
Overview • Description • Distribution • Taxonomy
Overview |
|
|||||||
| With 7,003 species in 530 genera worldwide, robber flies are one of the largest and most abundant families of insects alive today. Laphria is a very large genus of robber flies. It occurs in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North and Central America. There are 240 species of Laphria worldwide, 62 species in North America north of Mexico, and at least 13 in Minnesota. Adults prey on flying insects, often larger than themselves, including bees and other robber flies. Larvae prey on insects in rotting wood. | ||||||||
Description |
||
Bee-mimic robber flies, as their name suggests, resemble bees. Laphria are large robber flies. Adults are ½″ to ¾″ long. Some are bee-like, with a long, tapering abdomen. Others are bumble bee-like, with a stout abdomen. |
||
Distribution |
||||
|
Sources |
|||
| 11/3/2018 | ||||
Taxonomy |
|||
Order |
Diptera (flies) | ||
Suborder |
Brachycera (circular-seamed flies, muscoid flies, short-horned flies) | ||
Infraorder |
Muscomorpha | ||
Superfamily |
Asiloidea | ||
Family |
Asilidae (robber flies) | ||
Subfamily |
Laphriinae | ||
Tribe |
Laphriini | ||
Subordinate Taxa |
|||
bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria canis complex) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria cinerea) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria divisor) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria flavicollis) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria huron) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria index) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria index complex) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria insignis) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria ithypyga) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria janus) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria posticata) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria sacrator) bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria sericea complex) |
|||
Synonyms |
|||
|
|||
Common Names |
|||
bee-like robber fly bee-mimic robber fly |
|||
Visitor Photos |
|||||
Share your photo of this insect. |
|||||
| This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach one or more photos and, if you like, a caption. |
|||||
Alfredo Colon |
|||||
| bee-mimic robber fly (Laphria index or Laphria ithypyga) |  |
||||
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos |
|||||
 |
|||||
Slideshows |
||
Visitor Videos |
|||
Share your video of this insect. |
|||
| This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach a video, a YouTube link, or a cloud storage link. |
|||
Other Videos |
|||
Visitor Sightings |
|||||
Report a sighting of this insect. |
|||||
| This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Be sure to include a location. |
|||||
| Alfredo Colon Summer 2018 |
Location: Woodbury, Minnesota |
|
|||
MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings |
|||||
Created: 11/3/2018
Last Updated: