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Family: Bombyliidae
Black flies with spotted wings mating.
Thistle in chaparral.
Spotted on Apr 19, 2012
Submitted on Apr 20, 2012
6 Comments
Thanks oxyjack! I'll update it to reflect Bombyliidae.
Well I know that some of the species are narrow-bodied, but I don't have time to hunt through bug guide tonight. There are also only a few families with color on the costal margins of the wings, the Tabanids (which these aren't), Tephritids (nope), some Conopidae (definitely not)... I think Bombyliidae is the best guess without being able to take a closer look.
Interesting, that I didn't know. I originally thought these were Anthrax flies but ruled it out. Hmmm
One other thing that makes me think they may be bee flies is their mating position. Only a few families that I know of mate in the 180° inline position, and these are definitely not robber flies, crane flies or march flies.
Sorry, they took off after these two shots. I cropped one and added it as the third image although I doubt it will help due to the poor quality and same angle. Thanks for trying!
They look like Bombyliidae, maybe Exoprosopa? Wish I could see them from another angle.