aispinsects's Favorites

In a suburban neighborhood. My yard (where she was found) is pretty wild and full of natives, but the rest of the neighborhood is quite sterile and landscaped. She was around the size of P. fuscatus and flying maybe 6-8 feet above the ground when captured.

The best match for my images is Genea aurea, which according to Bugguide.net is the most yellowish of the species. Genea texensis is quite similar but again according to Bugguide, has a shorter proboscis and longer palps than other species, and images on Bugguide (e.g., https://bugguide.net/node/view/2081642/bgimage) show these to be shorter and longer respectively than on my images (see images 3 & 4). Images of G. robertsonii and G. pavonacea show these species to be significantly darker than G. aurea and G. texensis. That said, it is my best inference, I would certainly appreciate any guidance/corrections by people more knowledgeable of tachinids than I am.

I'm cheering for the mosquito this time! These large flies were impossible to escape, even on high mountain slopes with a good wind. Their bites were painful and left a good-size welt, but this one seemed to have a biter of its own. The mosquito stayed on its back and appeared to be feeding on it.