Bombyliidae

Poecilognathus sulphureus, copyright Stephen A. Marshall.

Belongs within: Asiloidea.
Contains: Anthracinae, Lomatiinae, Toxophorinae, Ecliminae, Bombyliinae.

The Bombyliidae, bee flies, are a group of often woolly and usually stoutly built flies that are most commonly ectoparasitoids as larvae. A large number of subfamilies of bombyliids are recognised that have often been divided between the two higher groups Tomophthalmae, in which the hind margin of the eye is sharply and usually deeply indented with a narrow line dividing the upper and lower rear facets, and Homoeophthalmae, in which the hind margin of the eye is entire and the facets not divided. Within the Homoeophthalmae, members of the subfamily Cylleniinae have have a swollen and dorsally bilobate occiput with a deep central cavity (Hall 1981). The Phthiriinae are bare, narrow-bodied flies with the antennal flagellomere 1 bearing an apical sulcus containing the stylus (Greathead et al. 2009). Usiinae resemble Phthiriinae but have three rather than four posterior cells in the wing.

Characters (from Greathead et al. 2009): Usually robust, often with long projecting proboscis, usually with pattern of coloured scales and hairs. Males frequently holoptic; antenna with one or two flagellomeres, frequently with terminal bristlelike stylus. Pronotum usually not apparent. Legs long and slender. Wings with R₄₊₅ branched, vein M₃ absent (four posterior cells), venation often reduced in smaller species. Male genitalia with epandrium comprising one sclerite; surstyli ablsent; gonocoxites usually fused basally, bearing articulated gonostyli apically; aedeagus usually sheathed, often with elaborate epiphallus; ejaculatory apodeme laterally compressed, usually well developed; sperm pump usually well developed. Female genitalia with acanthophorites present, usually bearing strong spines; normally three spermathecae with sclerotised bulbs.

<==Bombyliidae [Bombylarii, Phthiriidae, Systropodidae, Usiidae]
    |--Tomophthalmae H81
    |    |--Anthracinae H81
    |    `--Lomatiinae H81
    `--Homoeophthalmae H81
         |--Toxophorinae H81
         |--Ecliminae H81
         |--Bombyliinae H81
         |--Platypygus [Cyrtosiinae] H81
         |    `--P. americanus H81
         |--Oligodranes H81 [Oligodraninae LYG03]
         |    `--O. cincturus H81
         |--Tomomyzinae KME08
         |    |--Docidomyia parva LYG03
         |    `--Metacosmus mancipennis H81, KME08
         |--Cythereinae H81
         |    |--Neosardus LYG03
         |    `--Pantarbes pusio H81
         |--Desmatomyia H81 [Crocidiinae GEEL09, Desmatomyiinae]
         |    |--D. anomala H81
         |    `--D. binotata H81
         |--Lordotus H81 [Lordotinae LYG03]
         |    |--L. miscellus BM76
         |    |--L. pulchrissimus E66
         |    `--L. striatus H81
         |--Cylleniinae H81
         |    |--Amphicosmus elegans H81
         |    |--Paracosmus morrisoni H81
         |    `--Cyllenia Latreille 1802 L02
         |         `--*C. maculata L02 [=Bombylius (Cyllenia) maculatus G20]
         |--Usiinae KME08
         |    |--Eusurbus CM70
         |    |--Apolysis H81
         |    |    |--A. sigma KME08
         |    |    `--A. timberlakei H81
         |    `--Usia L02
         |         |--U. florea L02 [=Bombylius (Usia) floreus G20, Volucella florea L02]
         |         `--U. vestita Macquart 1847 E12
         `--Phthiriinae H81
              |  i. s.: Acreotrichus CM91
              |         Australiphthiria CM91
              |         Marmosoma CM91
              |--Phthiriini GEEL09
              |    |--Neacreotrichus cingulatus GEEL09
              |    `--Phthiria nigra [=Bombylius (Phthiria) niger] G20
              `--Poecilognathini GEEL09
                   |--Tmemophlebia GEEL09
                   |    |--T. coquilleti KME08
                   |    `--T. vockerothi KME08
                   `--Poecilognathus GEEL09
                        |--P. badius GEEL09
                        |--P. pulchellus GEEL09
                        `--P. sulphureus [=Phthiria sulphurea] GEEL09

Bombyliidae incertae sedis:
  Paleoplatypygus zaitzevi GE05
  Procyrtosia sukhatshevae Zaitzev 1987 P92
  Alepidophora peali GE05
  Pachysystrophus rohweri GE05
  Mariobezzinae LYG03
  Oniromyiinae LYG03
  Myonema [Antoniinae] LYG03
  Heterotropa T07
    |--H. asper T07
    `--H. kooyana T07
  Ploas K01
    |--P. maurus [=Bombylius (Ploas) maurus] G20
    `--P. virescens K01
  Acridophagus flaviscutellaris R91
  Cyrtomorpha flaviscutellaris K70
  Pachyneres australis CM70
  Pygocona O98
  Bombomyia O98
  Argyramoeba RD77
    |--A. anthrax [incl. A. sinuata] RD77
    |--A. distigma K18
    |--A. spectabilis Loew 1860 [=Anthrax spectabilis; incl. An. confusemaculatus, An. pithecius] R01
    `--A. trifasciata RD77
  Corsomyza nigripes Wiedem. 1820 R01
  Spogostylum anale RD77
  Proplatypygus rohdendorfi Zaitzev 1981 P92
  Amictites P92
  Glaesamictus P92
  Palaeoamictus P92
  Paracorsomyza P92
  Proglabellula P92
  Australoechus hirtus EN20

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BM76] Bohart, R. M., & A. S. Menke. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[CM70] Colless, D. H., & D. K. McAlpine. 1970. Diptera (flies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 656–740. Melbourne University Press.

[CM91] Colless, D. H., & D. K. McAlpine. 1991. Diptera (flies). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 2 pp. 717–786. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[EN20] Eggli, U., & R. Nyffeler (eds) 2020. Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Monocotyledons 2^nd ed. Springer.

[E66] Evans, H. E. 1966. The Comparative Ethology and Evolution of the Sand Wasps. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[E12] Evenhuis, N. L. 2012. Publication and dating of the Exploration Scientifique de l’Algérie: Histoire Naturelle des Animaux Articulés (1846–1849) by Pierre Hippolyte Lucas. Zootaxa 3448: 1–61.

[G20] Goldfuss, G. A. 1820. Handbuch der Naturgeschichte vol. 3. Handbuch der Zoologie pt 1. Johann Leonhard Schrag: Nürnberg.

[GEEL09] Greathead, D. J., N. L. Evenhuis & C. J. Einicker Lamas. 2009. Bombyliidae (bee flies). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera, vol. 1 pp. 565–576. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[H81] Hall, J. C. 1981. Bombyliidae. In: McAlpine, J. F., B. V. Peterson, G. E. Shewell, H. J. Teskey, J. R. Vockeroth & D. S. Wood (eds) Manual of Nearctic Diptera vol. 1 pp. 589–602. Research Branch, Agriculture Canada.

[K01] Kertész, K. 1901. Legyek [Dipteren]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 179–201. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[K70] Key, K. H. L. 1970. Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, crickets). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers pp. 323–347. Melbourne University Press.

[KME08] Kits, J. H., S. A. Marshall & N. L. Evenhuis. 2008. The bee flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae) of Ontario, with a key to the species of eastern Canada. Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification 6: 1–52.

[K18] Kohl, F. F. 1918. Die Hautflügergruppe "Sphecinae". IV. Teil. Die natürliche Gattung Sceliphron Klug (Pelopoeus Latr.). Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museum in Wien 32: 1–171.

[LYG03] Lambkin, C. L., D. K. Yeates & D. J. Greathead. 2003. An evolutionary radiation of beeflies in semi-arid Australia: systematics of the Exoprosopini (Diptera: Bombyliidae). Invertebrate Systematics 17: 735–891.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[O98] Oosterbroek, P. 1998. The Families of Diptera of the Malay Archipelago. Brill: Leiden.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[R91] Rentz, D. C. F. 1991. Orthoptera (grasshoppers, locusts, katydids, crickets). In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 369–393. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[R01] Ricardo, G. 1901. Notes on Diptera from South Africa (concluded). Annals and Magazine of Natural History, series 7, 7: 89–110.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[T07] Tsurusaki, N. 2007. The Chugoku Mountains—a hotspot of geographical differentiation of species. Taxa 22: 3–14.

Last updated: 17 April 2022.