Subject: Unknown Bug rural new south wales
Location: New South Wales, australia
January 30, 2014 6:43 pm
Hi there
Have been seeing in increase in strange insects over the course of this summer. found this one on our porch this morning. Unable to find anything online that looks close to this little fellow. He made a buzzing sound when he flew and didn’t fly in a straight line, more like a zigzag motion. he seemed curious about me and landed on my shirt before flying off but didn’t display any aggressive behavior.
Its the middle of summer here and extremely hot in a rural setting of new south wales, Australia.
any help would identifying him be appreciated.
Signature: Belinda
Hi Belinda,
Your email did not include any details regarding the size of this impressive Robber Fly in the genus Blepharotes. We wish your photo showed the color of the abdomen. We have several examples on our site of Blepharotes coriarius, the Giant Yellow Robber Fly. Max Campbell’s website states: “This is the only specimen I’ve seen. I’ve borrowed ‘Australian Insects’ by Keith McKeown, from the library. Fortunately it has a good (black and white) water colour rendition of the fly and describes it thus: ‘The finest of all the Australian Asilidae. A very large black fly with the upper surface of its broad abdomen bright orange and tufted along the sides with patches of black and white hairs. The face is densely bearded. The wings are a rich smoky brown. It is rather a common insect in inland districts, especially in the Riverina, where it rests on fence posts and tree trunks in the hot sunshine. It flies away with a loud buzz when disturbed, often bearing away its impaled prey.'” We wouldn’t want to rule out that it might be Blepharotes splendissimus which has a dark abdomen and is pictured on DKImages. Did you get a look at the abdomen?
Update: December 5, 2015
With a new submission today that we believe is a Giant Blue Robber Fly, we are now confident that this is also the same species.
Hi
I found a Giant Blue Robber Fly near my property at Rock Forest NSW 2795 today (Wednesday 8th Feb 2017).
It was dead on the ground where I found it on the road, but I picked it up & brought it home to look it up on google to identify the species.
Hi
I found a Giant Blue Robber Fly near my property at Rock Forest NSW 2795 today (Wednesday 8th Feb 2017).
It was dead on the ground where I found it on the road, but I picked it up & brought it home to look it up on google to identify the species.