Neoitamus cyanurus

Neoitamus cyanurus
Male
Female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Asilidae
Genus: Neoitamus
Species:
N. cyanurus
Binomial name
Neoitamus cyanurus
(Loew, 1849)
Synonyms
  • Itamus cyanurus Loew, 1849

Neoitamus cyanurus, the common awl robberfly, is a carnivorous species of 'robber fly' belonging to the family Asilidae.

Distribution

It is an eastern Palearctic realm species, with a limited distribution in Europe (Austria, Belgium, British Isles, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, North European Russia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands), but it is also present in the Near East and in the Oriental realm.

Habitat

This species mainly inhabits spruce forest edge and hedge rows., but also wooded gardens and parks.

Identification

It is a small, grey-black asilid (10-15 mm.) Difficult to distinguish from other Neoitamus. Wolff, Gebel and Geller-Grimm (2021), ( Majer (1997), van den Broek (1979), Stubbs and Drake (2001) all provide keys, descriptions and illustrations. Older works are also useful Neoitamus cyanurus can reach a body length of about 12–17 millimetres (0.47–0.67 in) and a wing length of about 8–12 millimetres (0.31–0.47 in).

Biology

Adults can be found from May to October, peaking in June and July. It is an ancient woodland species (especially oak). The adult insects perch on tree trunks, or branches waiting for other flying insects, which they then capture with their long bristly legs. Their prey is often larger than the captor. The prey spectrum is broad including, for example, small butterflies, green lacewings (Pseudomallada ventralis), flies, gnats, cicadas, beetles and many more. The larvae develop in the soil and there feed on insect larvae.

References

  1. ↑ Fauna Europaea
  2. 1 2 3 4 Ecology of Commanster
  3. ↑ (Oldroyd (1969)<ref>Oldroyd, H., 1969 Diptera Brachycera: Tabanoidea and Asiloidea (Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 9/4) Royal Entomological Society, London.
  4. ↑ Verrall, G. H., 1909 Stratiomyidae and succeeding families of the Diptera Brachycera of Great Britain British flies Volume 5 London : Gurney and Jackson, 1909.BHL Full text with illustrations
  5. ↑ Stubbs, Alan E.; Drake, Martin (2001). British Soldierflies and their allies: A Field Guide to the Larger British Brachycera (Print). London: British Entomological and Natural History Society. pp. 528 pages. ISBN 1-899935-04-5.
  6. ↑ Majer,D.M. European Asilidae, in Papp L. & Darvas B. (eds.), Contributions to a manual of Palaearctic Diptera, volume 2 Nematocera and Lower Brachycera. Science Herald, Budapest (Hongrie), 1997, pp.549-567
  7. ↑ van den Broek, R., Schulten, A., Wouwen N.(traducteur), Field Guide to the Robberflies of the Netherlands and Belgium, Éditions Jeugdbondsuitgeverij, 2017, 136 pages, (ISBN 9789051070545)
  8. ↑ Danny Wolff, Markus Gebel and Fritz Geller-Grimm: The Robber Flies of Germany: Discovering - Observing - Identifying . Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2018, ISBN 978-3-494-01733-4
  9. ↑ [Fritz Geller-Grimm> Photographic atlas and identification key to the robberflies
  10. ↑ Hobby, B.M., 1930 The British species of Asilidae (Diptera) and their prey. Trans. Entomol. Soc. of South England. No. 6. pp. 1-42.