Bee Fly – Anthracinae – Lepidanthrax sp. No. 1

Order Diptera; Suborder Brachycera; Family Bombyliidae (Bee Flies); Subfamily: Anthracinae; Provisional scientific name: Lepidanthrax sp. (WA – Lake Cronin NR); Common name: Bee Fly – Female - Description: A very colourful fly with unpatterned, dark brown thorax that is covered with light brown, adpressed indumentum; scutellum black near the thorax, the other half light brown; collar with silky beige hairs dorsally and white hairs laterally; abdomen with five black bands, five light brown bands and two broader, well defined white bands; facial hairs between eyes golden frontally, interspersed with black hairs dorsally, reaching to the ocelli; wings opaque, dark brown on the outer half, transparent on the inner half, with prominently light brown leading edge consisting of costal cells and associated veins - Distribution in Australia: Western Australia – Photographed: in December, in Lake Cronin Nature Reserve in Goldfields Region.