Anthrax anthrax
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Anthrax anthrax |
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| ( Closet , 1781) |
Anthrax anthrax (Greek ἄνθραξ anthrax "coal") is a fly fromthe wool swimmer family (Bombyliidae).
features
The flies reach a body length of 7 to 13 millimeters. The head is hairy black, below the forehead hairs are brownish-yellow scale hairs. In the male, the back of the head is bordered with brown-black hair, in the female it is dusted gray and has few white scale hairs. On the mesonotum there are brown scale hairs and four rows of black hair about the same width. The legs are also black, only the tibiae are brownish-white and have black thorn bristles. The wings are characteristically mostly black, only towards the wing tip they are transparent. The wing veins are dark brown, the rm vein hits the discoidal cell in the middle. The holders are brown, their heads have a light border. The first tergite is hairy black on the abdomen, but the sides are hairy white. The second and third tergite have four each, the fourth and fifth two light spots each, which are in the middle in the female and to the side in the male. The sixth tergite has white scaly half bands on both sides.
Similar species
Larval development
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Anthrax anthrax parasitizes various solitary bees such as mason bees .
The larvae change their appearance several times during their development ( polymetabolism ). The first larva is very mobile, first eats the food for the host larvae and then actively searches for a suitable host. It is equipped with 5 pairs of stub feet for this purpose. Once the host is reached, the larva sucks on and eats it. All later stages have no legs and accordingly have a typical maggot-like habit.
The overwintering usually takes place as a larva, before pupation these develop again a mobile pre-nymph stage. The pupa is also mobile and has thorns on the front end and bristles on the abdomen, with which it is easier to work out the ground nests of the hosts. The imaginal moult takes place outdoors.
In the picture on the right, the parasitization can be seen on a nesting aid for mason bees.
Occurrence and way of life
The species is distributed in North Africa and Europe to Asia Minor.
supporting documents
literature
- Joachim Haupt, Hiroko Haupt: Flies and Mosquitoes. Observation, way of life . 1st edition. Naturbuch-Verlag, Jena and Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-89440-278-4 .
Web links
- Werner David: Der Trauerschweber (Anthrax anthrax) - An alien in the wild bee kingdom (with photos of different stages of development and videos of hatching)