Alright, it’s actually a slightly less scary sounding bee fly (Bombyliidae), but don’t let its mild-mannered name and fuzzy appearance fool you; this fly’s a killer!
Chrysanthrax lepidotoides (Bombyliidae) – Archbold Florida
It may seem cute to us, but if you’re a wasp, the last thing you ever experience may be the larvae of this species gnawing on your developing body!
While the host of Chrysanthrax lepidotoides isn’t specifically known from what I can tell, other Chrysanthrax species have been found to parasitize developing larvae of tiphiid wasps and carpenter bees1. But how does it actually infect it’s victims? First, the female scoops up some sand and dust into a special “sand chamber” at the tip of her abdomen, coating her eggs with particulate to protect it.
This sand chamber allows the female to coat her eggs with dust and dirt to help protect them during delivery.
Once coated, the female deposits her eggs near where she expects the hosts to be living (some bee fly species will hover over ground nesting bee entrances and literally shoot eggs down the hole and into larval chambers). After landing, the planidium 1st instar larvae (which looks remarkably like an Alien Facehugger) crawls about until it finds it’s host, and slowly devours it while developing into more stereotypical maggot-like instars and eventually a terrifying pupa!
Not only is the biology of these flies terrifying, but so is their taxonomy, with very little work being done on Chrysanthrax or it’s relatives in the past 100 years!
If you’re still looking for a fright this Halloween, then the rest of the insect blogging community is here to help:
Glittery Vampire Maggots by Jules Bristow
An Assassin Bug dressed for Halloween by itsy bitsy beetle
An entire murder of orange & black arthropods by Charley Eiseman
A spider meets an untimely end by Tim Eisele
Living Halloween decorations by the Dragonfly Woman
An ant that wants to suck your hemolymph by Matt Bertone (at Your Wildlife Blog)
A 3 headed jack-o-lantern by Ted MacRae
The stuff of nightmares by Piotr Naskrecki
Happy Halloween!
1. Yeates D.K. & Greathead D. (1997). The evolutionary pattern of host use in the Bombyliidae (Diptera): a diverse family of parasitoid flies, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 60 (2) 149-185. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1997.tb01490.x
Did you take that photo at BugShot 2012? Great composition!
Thanks Ted, yep, this is one of few flies I found in a natural setting during BugShot 2012! The “making of” story behind this photo is pretty good, with missed opportunities, intruders and an eventual happy ending, so I’ll have to share it sometime when I’ve got some more free time!
How ’bout over a beer at ESA?
Deal!
Are you sure about the species ID? Chrysanthrax lepidotoides in only known from New Jersey.
Hi Neal,
No, I’m not 100% sure about the species ID. I combed the U of Guelph Insect Collection, and matched the specimen I collected to specimens identified by Joel Kits as Chrysanthrax lepidotoides, which were also collected at Archbold (we have specimens identified as C. lepidotoides from North & South Carolina as well if you’re interested). Are there any resources for identifying Chrysanthrax in the southern US that you could recommend?
I trust Joel’s IDs. Thanks for letting me know! I’ll add the states to my database — probably widespread along the eastern seaboard, then. – Neal