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Rutilia (Donovanius) lepida
Very large and heavy fly; approx. 22mm length, 16mm wide; caramel and deep red eyes with white rims; black thorax with some grey linear markings; very stout brown-gold abdomen with black hairs towards rear; dark-clear wings with strong black veins
Suburban fringe to dry sclerophyll eucalyptus forest; this one on large diameter pine fence post.
This is the fattest and heaviest fly I have ever seen. It sounded like a chinook helicopter when it flew and I thought I saw the fence post move when it landed.
Not sure why Peter Chew calls them all 'Grey' - can't find other references to this common name. This one is obviously not very grey.
family: TACHINIDAE
subfamily: Dexiinae
tribe: Rutiliini
genus: Rutilia
subgenus: Rutilia (Donovanius)
http://spatial.ala.org.au/?q=lsid:%22urn...
Spotted on Feb 1, 2012
Submitted on Feb 1, 2012
5 Comments
Rutilia sp. ??
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14573979@N0...
closest looking so far is
http://australianmuseum.net.au/image/Eas...
but still no cigar
consider listing in the Flies mission:
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8526...
Thanks SmallWonders... checking...
Hi Argybee, this is Tachinidae. I'm not familiar with the species in your region, but hopefully this will help to get you started on an identification! Nice spot :)