Species Anthrax incomptus Walker, 1849

Museums

Regional Maps

• Anthrax incompta Walker, F. 1849. List of the specimens of dipterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part II. London : British Museum pp. [iii] + 231–484. [Date published April 21] [253].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂, '47 109/W. Australia'.
• Anthrax semimacula Walker, F. 1849. List of the specimens of dipterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part II. London : British Museum pp. [iii] + 231–484. [Date published April 21] [254].

  Type data:

   Holotype BMNH ♂, '4 4 4'.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, NT, Qld, SA, Vic, WA: Australian Alps (AA), Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Burt Plain (BRT), Central Arnhem (CA), Carnarvon (CAR), Central Kimberley (CK), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Coolgardie (COO), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Central Ranges (CR), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Dampierland (DL), Davenport Murchison Ranges (DMR), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Esperance Plains (ESP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Gascoyne (GAS), Gawler (GAW), Gibson Desert (GD), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Great Sandy Desert (GSD), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Great Victoria Desert (GVD), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Kanmantoo (KAN), Little Sandy Desert (LSD), Mallee (MAL), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mitchell Grass Downs (MGD), Mount Isa Inlier (MII), Mulga Lands (ML), Murchison (MUR), Nandewar (NAN), New England Tablelands (NET), Northern Kimberley (NK), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Nullarbor (NUL), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Pilbara (PIL), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Sturt Plateau (STU), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Tanami (TAN), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Victorian Midlands (VM), Warren (WAR), Wet Tropics (WT), Yalgoo (YAL)

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: parasitic (host(s): Sceliphron laetum (Smith, 1856) [SPHECIDAE]; Chrysis sp. [CHRYSIDIDAE]; Paralastor sp. [VESPIDAE]; Chalicodoma sp. [MEGACHILIDAE]; Megachile apicata Smith, 1853 [MEGACHILIDAE]; Megachile (Mitchellapis) fabricator Smith, 1868 [MEGACHILIDAE]).

Associated Fauna References

Prendergast, K.S. & Yeates, D.K. 2018. New records of bee fly (Diptera: Bombyliidae) and mite (Acari: Pyemotidae) parasites of Australian Megachile bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae) in Western Australia. Australian Entomologist 45(1859): 51–56 (Megachile (Mitchellapis) fabricator; Megachile apicata)

Smith, A. 1979. Life strategy and mortality factors of Sceliphron laetum (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) in Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 4: 181-186 (Sceliphron laetum; Paralastor sp.; Chrysis sp.)

Yeates, D.K. & Lambkin, C.L. 1998. Review of the tribe Anthracini (Diptera: Bombyliidae) in Australia: cryptic species diversity and the description of Thraxon, gen. nov. Invertebrate Taxonomy 12(6): 977-1078 (Chalicodoma sp.)

Diagnosis

Eyes separated by 2.53 width of ocellar triangle in male and 33 width of ocellar triangle in female. Frons with short black hairs and scattered brown scales. Antennal pedicel conical, junction between pedicel and flagellum loose, flagellum broad based, abruptly tapering toward apex, ventral flange extending around pedicel. Antennal flagellum with base disk-like, diameter equal to that of apex of scape. Cervical collar with admixed black and white hairs; scutum with black hairs and scattered admixed white and brown tomentum. Basal third of haltere knob brown and apex cream-white. Integumental colour of legs black. Wing venation with spur-vein at base of R2+3, base of R2+3 meeting r-m crossvein directly; CuA2 and A1 separate; short spur-vein at base of R4 present, branch spur on R4 absent. Wing pattern with dark brown-black anterobasal region of wing and hyaline apical and posterior regions (Fig. 6); additional dark brown patches over basal section of dm-cu, m-m and base of R4. Division between two regions running from apical third of cell a1 to apex of Sc with distal extension covering r-m. Abdominal tergite 1 with erect white hairs; a few black hairs admixed along posterior margin. Tergites 2–4 with black hairs and scales and a few white scales admixed along posterior margin of each tergite. Tergite 5 with white scales on lateral and posterior margin and black scales on remainder; tergites 6 and 7 with decumbent white scales (less dense in female than in male) (Fig. 62). Male genitalia (Figs 71, 72) with swollen basiphallus and epiphallus with apical, erect, flattened plate over tip of aedeagus bearing small medial, lateral and ventral projections, neck of epiphallus narrowed apically; gonostyli with angular basal section in dorsal view and acute apex curved lateroventrally. Apex of gonocoxites with paired, setae-covered, flattened, ventral extensions projecting from base of gonostyli and beyond apex of phallus. Lateral aedeagal apodemes very large. Female genitalia (Fig. 73) with elongate sperm pump; distal end-plate well developed but proximal one absent; spermathecal bulb elliptical; spermathecal ducts very long, approximately 43 length of spermathecal bulb. Furcal rods linear, with sinuous longitudinal rod and lateral lobe.

General References

Evenhuis, N.L. 1989. Family Bombyliidae. In, Catalog of the Diptera of the Australasian and Oceanian Regions (Ed.) Evenhuis, N.L. Bishop Museum Press and E.J. Brill : Honolulu and Leiden. [370] (as Anthrax incomptus)

Hull, F.M. 1973. Bee Flies of the World. The genera of the family Bombyliidae. Bulletin of the United States National Museum 286: 1-687 [374] (as Villa incompta (Walker); Anthrax semimacula as Villa semimacula)

Yeates, D.K. & Lambkin, C.L. 1998. Review of the tribe Anthracini (Diptera: Bombyliidae) in Australia: cryptic species diversity and the description of Thraxon, gen. nov. Invertebrate Taxonomy 12(6): 977-1078 [991] (review)

History of changes