Bee Flies, Bombyliidae,
are True Flies, Diptera, specialized for feeding on pollen and
nectar, many of which have evolved long proboscises for nectar
feeding. Many adult Bee Flies resemble Bees in shape and colouration,
giving the group their name and providing the otherwise defenseless
Flies with a degree of protection against predators. Bee Flies are
important pollinators in many ecosystems, and aee found on every
continent except Antarctica, but have a somewhat limited fossil
record, probably due to their preference for drier habitats, which
are not conducive for fossilization, particularly for small organisms
such as Insects which produce no mineralized tissues. The majority of
Bee Flies are parasitoids, i.e. their larvae mature inside the living
bodies of other Insects, usually with fata consequences for the host,
however unlike Wasps female Bee Flies do not lay their eggs directly
upon their hosts, instead scattering them in areas where the emergent
larvae, which are mobile with legs and eyes, are likely to encounter
suitable hosts and enter them. The majority of Bee Flies cover their
eggs with sediment structures called 'sand-traps' which enable them
to avoid desiccation.
In a paper published in
the journal Palaeontologica Electronica on 6 October 2015 Dale Greenwalt and
Jonathan Wingerath of the Department of Paleobiology at the National Museum of Natural History and Neal Evenhuis of the Department of Natural Science at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, describe two new
fossil Bee Flies, one from Miocene Dominican Amber and the other from
the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation of Montana.
The first specimen
described is placed in the genus Anthrax, and given the
specific name succini, which derives from 'succinum', the Lain
for Amber. The specimen is female and 8.45 mm in length, with a wing
length of 9.37 mm. It comes from Miocene Dominican Amber, but closely
resembles the living Jamaican species Anthrax delicatulus,
which has been reported from the Dominican Republic, differing only
in the amount of pigment in the wings and the position of some wing
veins.
Anthrax succini.
Scale bar equals 2 mm. Greenwalt et al.
(2015).
Greenwalt et al.
believe that Anthrax succini is
the first fossil specimen of the genus Anthrax described,
though they note that a previous specimen was assigned to the genus
by Standley Lewis in 1969. Anthrax dentoni was described from a fragmentary
wing from the Early-to-Middle Miocene Latah Formation of
northwestern Idaho. However while Greenwalt et al. do
agree that the specimen is a Bee Fly, they do not believe that there
is sufficient material to assign it to a specific genus.
Anthrax dentoni.
(1) Photograph of the fossil. (2) Line drawing of venation. Scale bar
equals 1 mm. Greenwalt et al.
(2015).
The
second new specimen described is placed in a new genus, Eoanomala,
meaning 'dawn-anomaly'; it appears to be a member of the
Exoprosopines, an still extant group, but has shorter wings compared
to the body length than any living species, and has a long fleshy
proboscis, whereas modern members of the group have either short or
thin proboscises. It is given the specific name melas,
meaning 'black'. The specimen is preserved on a fragment of oil
shale from the Middle Eocene Kishenehn Formation of Montana, and is entirely black in colour. It is 6.09 mm in length with
6.04 mm wings, and of indeterminate sex.
Eoanomala melas.
Scale bar equals 5 mm. Greenwalt et al.
(2015).
See
also...
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of Insect hosts. While most parasites seek to keep their host alive for
as long
as possible, enabling them to live and produce offspring for as long as
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