Species Thraxan echinatus Yeates & Lambkin, 1998

Thraxan echinatus Holotype

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

Thraxan echinatus Holotype label

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

Museums

Regional Maps

• Thraxan echinatus 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 [1044].

  Type data:

   Holotype QM T57516 ♂ (23.xi.1995, in copula, D.K. Yeates & C.J. Burwell), QLD, Carnarvon Natl Park, Mt Moffat Section, 1097 m [25°04'S, 148°03'E].
  Paratype(s) ANIC ♂, NT, Nourlangie Ck, 8 km E Mt Cahill; UQIC ♀, QLD, Carnarvon Natl Park, Mt Moffat Section, 1097 m, Summit of Mt Moffat, 25°04'S 148°03'E; QM T57533–6 4♂, QLD, Carnarvon Natl Park, Mt Moffat Section, 1097 m, Summit of Mt Moffat [25°04'S, 148°03'E]; ANIC ♂, QLD, Mt Woowoonga, SW of Bundaberg; UQIC 3♂, QLD, Mt Greville near Boonah, summit, 28°05'S 152°30'E; UQIC ♂ (hill-topping), QLD, Mt Cootha, Brisbane; UQIC 2♂, QLD, Mt Beerburrum summit, 26°58'S 152°58'E; ANIC 2♂, QLD, Burnett River Bundaberg.

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Queensland

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

NT, Qld: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), NSW North Coast (NNC), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB), Wet Tropics (WT)

Ecological Descriptors

Larva: parasitic.

Extra Ecological Information

Larvae recorded as parasitising Sphecidae mud wasps that construct nests over aboriginal rock art in Kakadu National Park (Nauman 1983).

Diagnosis

Similar to T. simulatus except in the following respects. Male genitalia with apex of epiphallus (Figs 31, 49) dorsally with lateral projections small and blunt; medial projection convex, terminating squarely, ventral hooks large and projecting anterolaterally. Apex of epiphallus laterally with distinctive wedge-shaped apical margin; medial and lateral projections large, sclerotised, strongly projecting. Neck spine blunt, well developed. Female spermathecal bulb pear shaped, attached to pump by long, narrow neck.

History of changes