Choerades

Choerades
Choerades sp. preys a beetle – Polydrusus sp.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Asilidae
Genus: Choerades
Walker, 1851
Choerades sp. in copula

Choerades is a genus of robber flies described by Walker in 1851, belonging to the family Asilidae, subfamily Laphriinae.

Description

Genus Choerades is closely related to the Genus Laphria and Bombomima. They can mainly be distinguished by genitalic differences in males, as the shape of the upper forceps or the evolution of lamellae from the fusion of bristles, but also for the length of hairs and bristles on the facial gibbosity. The adults average sizes reach 10–20 millimetres (0.4–0.8 in). These robber flies are quite hairy, their body is usually black, while the bee-mimicking abdomen shows black and yellow stripes. They generally prey insects of a variety of species, including flies, bees, wasps and beetles.

Distribution

The Species of this Genus are distributed in most of Europe, in the Eastern Palearctic ecozone, in the Near East and in the Nearctic ecozone.

Species

Choerades sp. preys a ladybug

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.