Species Anthrax asciculus Yeates & Lambkin, 1998

Anthrax asciculus Holotype

© Copyright Queensland Museum CC-BY-NC, photo G. Thompson

Anthrax asciculus Holotype label

© Copyright Queensland Museum CC-BY-NC, photo G. Thompson

Museums

Regional Maps

• Anthrax asciculus 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 [1010].

  Type data:

   Holotype QM ♂, QLD, SCQ [South Central Queensland], Mt Moffat Natl Pk, Mt Rugged [24°54'S 148°00'E].
  Paratype(s) UQIC ♂, NSW, Mt Kaputar Natl Park, Mt Kaputar summit, 30°16'S 150°10'E; GDCB ♂, QLD, 20 km S of Warwick, 28°20'S 151°56'E; GDCB ♂, QLD, Mt Tinbeerwah near Cooroy; QM 5♂, QLD, Mt Moffat Section, Carnarvon Natl Park, summit of Mt Moffat, 25°04'S 148°03'E, 1097 m; UQIC 2♂, QLD, Mt Moffat Section, Carnarvon Natl Park, summit of Mt Moffat, 25°04'S 148°03'E, 1097 m; GDCB ♂, QLD, Mt Archer near Rockhampton; ANIC ♂, QLD, Eidsvold; GDCB ♀, QLD, 1.5 km SE of Amity, North Stradbroke Island, 27°24'S 153°27'E; GDCB ♂, QLD, Amiens near Stanthorpe.

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NSW, Qld, SA, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Kanmantoo (KAN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: parasitic.

Extra Ecological Information

Adults have been collected, on occasions, by sweeping sun-lit hilltop clearings, about two metres from the ground.

Diagnosis

Haltere knob brown with some cream on posterior margin. Wing venation simple with no i-r crossvein and no spur-veins. Wing pattern similar to A. dolabratus (Fig. 13). Membrane divided into two distinct regions; anterobasal half of wing with dark brown-black infuscation; posterior and apical regions of wing hyaline. Line of demarcation between regions extending from apex of cell a1 to r-m crossvein, along vein R4+5 to level of apex of dm-cu and then directly to apex of Sc. Tergites 2–5 with black hairs and tomentum and tergites 6 and 7 of male with elongate silver scales. Male genitalia very large in comparison to body size with gonostyli as long as antenna. Epiphallus with sharp, recurved dorsal apical hook; distinctive broad, flattened flange with small spine-like projection at apex of phallus in dorsal view, continuing and broadening around neck of epiphallus towards base, externally neck of epiphallus appears broad; ventral hook in lateral view. Female spermathecal bulb pear shaped.

History of changes