Dipalta
Appearance
Dipalta | |
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Dipalta sp. | |
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Genus: | Dipalta Osten Sacken, 1877
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Type species | |
Dipalta serpentina Osten Sacken, 1877[1]
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Dipalta is a genus of flies belonging to the family Bombyliidae (bee-flies). The genus is closely related to Villa.[1]
Description
These medium-sized flies, with conical faces, have three marginal wing cells on mottled wings with erratic wing veination. Wing length is 10–13 mm, and body length is 9–10 mm. The species are very variable; Hull suggests there could be other species, or only one very variable one.[1]
Distribution
One species is from Mexico and the western United States. and the other from Virginia and Ohio.[1]
Ecology
Adults are found on low growing flowers in desert areas. Larvae are parasitic on ant lions.[1]
Species
- D. banksi Johnson, 1921
- D. serpentina Osten Sacken, 1877
References
- ^ a b c d e Hull, F.M. (1973). Bee flies of the world. The genera of the family Bombyliidae. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 687 pp. ISBN 0-87474-131-9.