Mallophora ruficauda: taxon details and analytics
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Arthropoda
- Class
- Insecta
- Order
- Diptera
- Family
- Asilidae
- Genus
- Mallophora
- Species
- Mallophora ruficauda
- Scientific Name
- Mallophora ruficauda
Summary description from Wikipedia:
Mallophora ruficauda
Mallophora ruficauda is a species of parasitic robber fly in the family Asilidae, endemic to South and Central America. Like other robber flies, M. ruficauda is known for its aggressive behavior and predation upon other insects, especially bees. M. ruficauda (like other members of the genus Mallophora) mimics a bumblebee to fool predators into thinking it has a painful sting and is not worth eating.
M. ruficauda larvae parasitize scarab beetles and likely serve as an important biocontrol for the beetles, a pest species that eats the roots and tubers of plants while in the larval stage. On the other hand, adult M. ruficauda are apicultural pests because they feed on worker honeybees.
...Images from inaturalist.org observations:
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Parent Taxon
Sibling Taxa
- Mallophora aeaca
- Mallophora antiqua
- Mallophora argentipes
- Mallophora atra
- Mallophora bigoti
- Mallophora bomboides
- Mallophora calida
- Mallophora cilicrura
- Mallophora fautrix
- Mallophora fulviventris
- Mallophora leschenaulti
- Mallophora leucopyga
- Mallophora macquartii
- Mallophora media
- Mallophora minos
- Mallophora nigritarsis
- Mallophora orcina
- Mallophora papaveroi
- Mallophora pica
- Mallophora ruficauda
- Mallophora sylveirii
- Mallophora thompsoni
- Mallophora tibialis
- Mallophora tsacasi
- Mallophora wilhelmi
- Mallophora zita






























































































































































