''Exhyalanthrax'' is a small genus of
bombyliid flies
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...
.
Bombyliids are commonly known as ''bee flies'' due to their resemblance to
bee
Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
s.
''Exhyalanthrax'' are found in the
Afrotropical realm and the
Palearctic realm
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...
. Exhyalanthrax spp. are pupal parasitoids. ''Exhyalanthrax afer'' has been reared from pupae of
tachinid
The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in this fami ...
and
ichneumonid
The Ichneumonidae, also known as the ichneumon wasps, Darwin wasps, or ichneumonids, are a family of parasitoid wasps of the insect order Hymenoptera. They are one of the most diverse groups within the Hymenoptera with roughly 25,000 species cur ...
parasitoids of ''
Thaumetopoea pityocampa
The pine processionary (''Thaumetopoea pityocampa'') is a moth of the subfamily Thaumetopoeinae in the family Notodontidae, known for the irritating hairs of its caterpillars, their processions, and the economic damage they cause in conifero ...
'' and from the pupae of this species and other Lepidoptera. It has also been bred from cocoons of ''
Neodiprion sertifer''. Several African species have been reared from the puparia of
tsetse flies
Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glos ...
and from puparia of other Diptera. An ''Exhyalanthrax'' sp. has also been found preying on cockroach, (''Heterogamisca chopardi'' Uvarov) oothecae in Saudi Arabia. It has been suggested that ''Exhyalanthrax'' might be utilised as
biological control agents especially in the battle against tsetse flies.
Species List
*''
Exhyalanthrax abruptus''
( Loew, 1860)
*''
Exhyalanthrax afer''
(Fabricius Fabricius ( la, smith, german: Schmied, Schmidt) is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*people from the Ancient Roman gens Fabricia:
**Gaius Fabricius Luscinus, the first of the Fabricii to move to Rome
* Johann Goldsmid (1587 ...
, 1794)
*''
Exhyalanthrax argentifer''
Becker, 1916
*''
Exhyalanthrax canarionae''
Báez, 1990
*''
Exhyalanthrax collarti''
François, 1962
*''
Exhyalanthrax contrarius''
Becker, 1916
*''
Exhyalanthrax melanchlaenus''
( Loew, 1867)
*''
Exhyalanthrax muscarius''
(Pallas
Pallas may refer to:
Astronomy
* 2 Pallas asteroid
** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas
* Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon
Mythology
* Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena
* Pal ...
, 1818)
*''
Exhyalanthrax simonae''
(François, 1970)
*''
Exhyalanthrax vicinalis''
Hesse, 1956
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5420249
Bombyliidae
Diptera of Europe
Diptera of Africa
Diptera of Asia
Brachycera genera
Taxa named by Theodor Becker