Geron argentifrons Brunetti, 1909

Taxonomy

class Insecta → subclass Pterygota → infraclass Neoptera → superorder Holometabola → order Diptera → suborder Brachycera → infraorder Muscomorpha → family Bombyliidae → subfamily Geroninae → genus Geron → species Geron argentifrons

Species name(s)

Geron argentifrons Brunetti, 1909.

urn:lsid:insecta.pro:taxonomy:386243

Expansion

This species marks on the maps: 1.

Detailed information with references

Distribution

Oriental: India (Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar
Pradesh), Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand. [196].

Imago Habitus and Differences from alike species

♂. Head with eyes contiguous from the very reduced raised vertex to antennae, facets of moderate and uniform size; vertex with several long black hairs of variable lengths; ocelli well separated, pale brown ; frons covered with dull yellowish oblong scales, lying flat on surface, and with a second clothing of silvery white scales; face bluish white, with silvery reflections seen from above, as are also the lower eye-orbits; some long black hairs on face; upper side of mouth-opening yellowish; occiput black, with long brownish-grey hairs. Antennae black, tip of 1st and 2nd joints sometimes very narrowly whitish, 1st joint about double as long as 2nd; 3rd distinctly longer than first two together; basal joints occasionally pale. Thorax black, with long brownish grey or yellowish-grey pubescence, through which can be seen a lower clothing of very short yellow scale-like hairs; pleurae bluish grey, with whitish-grey pubescence. Abdomen dorsally like thorax, sides with numerous silvery-white scale-like hairs; apparently the whole dorsum normally covered with long hairs, which maybe thicker and longer at the sides; venter like dorsum, except that the long hairs are a little shorter. Legs normally dark brown or blackish; tibiae always paler, varying in shade from yellowish to moderately dark reddish brown; femora apparently (and probably coxae also) covered with small silvery-white scales: tibiae with small yellowish scales, short black spines and a circlet of them at tips, which are a little darker; tarsi black, with usual pubescence, metatarsi partly or almost wholly pale. Wings quite clear, iridescent; veins pale yellow; squamae pale yellow, with short hairs ; halteres large and prominent, clubs egg-shaped, from nearly white to bright yellow.
♀. Frons at vertex forming one-fourth the width of the head, covered with bluish-grey dust and with very small yellow or yellowish-white scales; a cluster of silvery-white scales around base of antennae; face as in ♂ , except that the long hairs are white, not black. Underside of first two antennal joints pale. Posterior femora and apical part of fore pair, also all the tibiae, pale yellowish.
Length, 2.5-4 mm. [225].

Authors

Initial species uploading to the site: Peter Khramov.

Photos: Fedor Ovechkin.

Text data: Fedor Ovechkin.

References

[187] Species 2000, http://www.sp2000.org
[196] Evenhuis, N.L. & D.J. Greathead. World catalog of bee flies (Diptera: Bombyliidae). Web site: [http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/bombcat/], 2003
[225] Brunetti, E. Diptera Brachycera (Vol. 1). London: Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street, 1920.