Awl Fly

Description:

This fly gave me a tough time to identify, as I've never seen one before. It is an Awl Fly in the Family Xylophagidae. This is the only family in the Brachycera group infraorden Xylophagomorpha. The fly is about 1 cm in length, all black except for the base of the legs which is white. The legs are banded. The antennae are long, segmented and somewhat serrate. It has large, pale, bulbus halteres, visible in several of the pictures. The last picture shows the underside, as the fly was trying to turn over. The abdomen is slightly restricted at the base and the overall impression is of an ichneumonid wasp. The adult female has a short ovipositor, for depositing eggs in decaying wood (visible in the last picture). The larvae are predaceous on other arthropods in wood.

Habitat:

Garden lights, semi-rural residential area, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. 2,200 meters.

Notes:

http://www.dipteristsforum.org.uk/wiki/f... http://picssr.com/tags/xylophagidaehttps... Adult female Xylophagus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylophagid... https://diptera.info/photogallery.php?al... https://www.flickr.com/photos/95549735@N... Xylophagus larva feeding https://bugguide.net/node/view/271789 http://www.biopix-foto.de/xylophagus-ate... Xylophagus mating https://diptera.info/photogallery.php?ph... https://bugguide.net/node/view/743913 https://bugguide.net/node/view/1351350