Anthrax (fly)

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Anthrax
Anthrax anthrax
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Bombyliidae
Subfamily: Anthracinae
Tribe: Anthracini
Genus: Anthrax
Scopoli, 1763
Type species
Anthrax anthrax
Scopoli, 1763
Synonyms
  • Chalcamoeba Sack, 1909
  • Chrysamoeba Sack, 1909

Anthrax is a genus of bombyliid flies, commonly known as "bee-flies" due to their resemblance to bees. Most are dull black flies, and are usually small to medium in size, 4–20 millimetres (0.2–0.8 in), and many species have striking wing patterns.[1]

Anthrax is a very large genus. While worldwide in distribution, most species are from the Palaearctic and Afrotropic regions. The genus includes species parasitic on tiger beetles – an unusual trait among the bee-flies. A. anthrax larvae parasitize bees. Many North American species parasitize solitary wasps.[2]

The type species is Musca morio Linnaeus, 1758, later found to be a misidentification of Musca anthrax Schrank, 1781.[3]

[edit] Species

Anthrax flies often hover around people and land on them.[2] This one, a member of A. oedipus or a similar species, landed repeatedly on the photographer's jeans.

[edit] References

  1. ^ F. M. Hull (1973). Bee flies of the world. The genera of the family Bombyliidae. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 1–687. ISBN 0874741319. 
  2. ^ a b Eaton, Eric R.; Kaufman, Kenn (2007). Kaufman Guide to Insects of North America. Houghton Mifflin. p. 292. ISBN 0-518-15310-1. 
  3. ^ Magdi S. El-Hawagry, Aly A. El-Moursy, Francis Gilbert & Samy Zalat (2000). "The tribe Anthracini Latreille (Bombyliidae, Diptera) from Egypt" (PDF). Egyptian Journal of Biology 2: 97–117. http://ecology.nottingham.ac.uk/~plzfg/pdf%20files/2000%20El-Hawagry%20et%20al_Anthracini%20of%20Egypt.pdf. 
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