Stenopogon obscuriventris Loew 1872
Creators: name: Lavigne, Robert J.
name: Dennis, Steve
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Asilidae
Stenopogon
Stenopogon obscuriventris

description: Stenopogon obscuriventris Loew
Stenopogon obscuriventris Loew, 1872: 69.
Recognition characters: Brownish species; length 20–27 mm; mystax yellowish; bristles and setae of mesonotum black except those along dorsolateral margins straw white, humerus with fine straw white setae only; metapleural bristles lacking; scutellum black, golden brown pollinose, 7 yellowish marginal bristles; first posterior cell of wing open, and angle of wings milky white; abdominal tergites grayish brown pollinose; femora of legs black, apical 1/3 yellowish, tibiae yellowish with apical 3/8 of hind and tips of fore and middle black; genitalia reddish brown, hypandrium deeply emarginate with setae orange, short, and dense on apices. Easily separated from all other species by the shape of the hypandrium that is a “U” shape when viewed from below, and the presence of black macrotrichia on costal vein of wing.
Distribution: ALBANY: 26 June 1963, 4 July 1964 (LDH); Laramie, 26 June 1963 (RPB), 28 June 1963 (LDH). CARBON: Bottle Creek Campground, Sierra Madre Mtns., 5 July 1963 (RJL); 22.5 km S of McFadden, 20 July 1965 (MHB); Rawlins, 26 June 1920 (?- AMNH). FREMONT: 48 km S of Lander, 13 July 1955; 1 km NW of Riverton, 5 June 1972 (RJL). PLATTE: Wheatland, 8 July 1964 (LDH). SUBLETTE: S of Pinedale, 24 July 1968 (RJL); 16 km N of Pinedale, 29–30 July 1968 (WAN). SWEETWATER: Rock Springs, 29 June 1920 (coll.?- AMNH); 16 km S of Shoshoni, 20 July1965 (KJS); 11 km SW of Shoshoni, 7–14 June 1972 (RJL, SD). TETON: Jackson, 13–17 July 1920 (?- AMNH); String Lake, Tetons, 7 July 1941 (CPA). UINTA: Evanston, 17 June 1959 (WDF). Recorded in Carbon Co., Centennial, Green River and Medicine Bow by Adisoemarto (1967); also, recorded in Wyoming by Lavigne (1992).
Habitat: Douglas fir forest (clearings within the forest where shrubs and grasses are dominant), sagebrush steppe shrub and grassland, and grama-buffalo grass grassland vegetation types. Areas where shrubby vegetation, such as big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), is abundant. At the Bottle Creek Campground this species was found both in open pasture and in the sun along a dirt road through the forest.
Ethology: Rests on and forages from soil and low growing vegetation.
Prey: DIPTERA, Asilidae: Dicropaltum mesae (as Asilus mesae), 11 km SW of Shoshoni, 7 June 1972; Cyrtopogon bimacula Walker, Bottle Creek Campground, 5 July 1963; Calliphoridae: Phormia regina Meigen, Albany Co., 26 June 1963; EPHEMEROPTERA, Caenidae: Trichorythodes minutus Traver, 11 km SW of Shoshoni, 8 June 1972; HEMIPTERA (Heteroptera), Coreidae: Leptocoris trivittatus (Say), 8 June 1972; Lygaeidae: Nysius sp., 11 km SW of Shoshoni, 8 June 1972; HYMENOPTERA, Apidae: Apis mellifera L., 11 km SW of Shoshoni, 5 June 1972; 7 June 1972 (two records); Formicidae: Camponotus sp. (winged reproductives, four records); Formica sp. (winged reproductives, two records); LEPIDOPTERA, Unidentified, 14 June 1972. ORTHOPTERA (see Lavigne 1992).
description: Published as part of Lavigne, Robert J. & Dennis, Steve, 2019, Robber flies (Insecta: Diptera: Asilidae) of Wyoming, USA with keys to genera and species, pp. 1-126 in Zootaxa 4662 (1) on page 111, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4662.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3383448