Pandivirilia conspicua
Creators: name: Gibson, Joel F.
name: Cannings, Robert A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Diptera
Therevidae
Pandivirilia
Pandivirilia conspicua

description: Pandivirilia conspicua (Walker)
Specimens examined (43). BC: Ainsworth Hot Springs, 3 mi N; Campbell River; Castlegar; Chilcotin; Cowichan Lake; Good Hope Lake, km 675 Highway 37; Hope; Iskut; Langford; Miracle Beach Provincial Park; Penticton, Madeleine Lake; Robson; Saanich, Ten Mile Point; Smithers; Swan Lake, near Swift River; Tagish Lake; Victoria, Cadboro Bay; Wellington. YT: Alaska Highway, km 1713; Carcross, Carcross, Bennett Lake dunes (Fig. 15); Alsek River dunes; Marsh Lake; Squan Lake; Takhini River dunes, 6.8 km NNE Kusawa Lake outlet. DEBU, PFC, RBCM, ROME, SEM.
Database and literature records (237). BC: Canim Lake; Courtenay; Cowichan Lake; Criss Creek; Cultus Lake; Galiano Island; Galiano Island, Spanish Hills; Gillies Bay; Harrison Mills; Horseshoe Bay; Kamloops; Keremeos; Kleanza Creek; Langford; Langley; Lillooet; Lorna; Mill Bay; Nanaimo, Departure Bay; Quadra Island; Robson; Squamish, Diamond Head; Soda Creek; Summerland; Trinity Valley; Vancouver; Vancouver, Stanley Park; Vancouver, University of BC; Vernon; Wellington; West Crescent Valley; West Vancouver; Westwick Lake; Williams Lake, 20 km SW; Wycliffe. YT: Carcross; Dempster Highway, mile 87; Kluane National Park, Sheep Mountain; LaForce Lake; Little Atlin Lake; Pine Lake. AK: Kenai Peninsula, Cooper Landing. BPBM, CASC, CNCI, CSCA, INHS, OSUC, SEM, USNM.
Conservation status. BC: S5, YT: S3S4.
Distributional notes. In British Columbia, P. conspicua is widespread and common from Vancouver Island (Campbell River, Victoria) east through the Thompson and Okanagan valleys (Kamloops, Penticton), West Kootenay (Castlegar, Ainsworth), and north through the Cariboo (Westwick Lake, Williams Lake) to the far North (Iskut, Tagish Lake). The species probably ranges east to the Alberta boundary, based on records in that province. There are several localities in southern Yukon (Kluane Lake, Carcross) and Alaska (Cooper Landing). Pandivirilia conspicua likely has a greater range in southern Yukon and Alaska because the species is transcontinental and somewhat boreal in Canada.
Ecoprovinces and other designations. BC: Coast and Mountains, Georgia Depression, Southern Interior, Southern Interior Mountains, Central Interior, Northern Boreal Mountains. YT: Boreal Cordillera, Taiga Cordillera. AK: Hypermaritime Forests.
Range. Cordilleran (plus eastern distribution). Alaska and Yukon east to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, south to Maryland, New Mexico, and California; Mexico (Webb & Metz 2003, Webb et al. 2013).
Biological notes. Flight period: 2 May–12 September. Pandivirilia conspicua has been collected on sand dunes near, or far from, water (Fig. 15); one site on the Takhini River, Yukon, was sparsely vegetated with Carex sabulosa, Polemonium sp., and Lupinus sp.; P. conspicua flew there with Dialineura gorodkovi (RBCM). In the Fraser Valley near Hope, the species was active on the shores of a streambed of sand and boulders among Populus trichocarpa seedings, where it was collected with Pallicephala occidentalis (RBCM). Also found in open Pinus ponderosa- Pseudotsuga menziesii woods, a moist meadow, on beach dunes, and in a light trap. Webb & Metz (2003) report it from habitats as diverse as Sphagnum fens to oak-chaparral woodland.
description: Published as part of Gibson, Joel F. & Cannings, Robert A., 2025, The Stiletto Flies (Diptera: Therevidae) of British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska, pp. 481-508 in Zootaxa 5618 (4) on pages 491-492, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5618.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/15218826