Kingdom Animalia Order Diptera Family Bombyliidae Scientific name Anthrax Rank Genus | Phylum Arthropoda Suborder Brachycera Subfamily Anthracinae Higher classification Bombyliidae | |
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Similar Bombyliidae, Fly, Anthrax anthrax, Insect, Hemipenthes | ||
Anthrax is a genus of bombyliid flies, commonly known as "bee-flies" due to their resemblance to bees. Most are dull black flies, and are usually small to medium in size, 4–20 millimetres (0.2–0.8 in), and many species have striking wing patterns.
Anthrax is a very large genus. While worldwide in distribution, most species are from the Palaearctic and Afrotropic regions. The genus includes species parasitic on tiger beetles – an unusual trait among the bee-flies. A. anthrax larvae parasitize bees. Many North American species parasitize solitary wasps.
The type species is Musca morio Linnaeus, 1758, later found to be a misidentification of Musca anthrax Schrank, 1781.
References
Anthrax (fly) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA