Bombylius Linnaeus, 1758

Greathead, D. J. & Evenhuis, N. L., 2001, Annotated keys to the genera of African Bombylioidea (Diptera: Bombyliidae; Mythicomyiidae), African Invertebrates 42 (1820), pp. 105-224 : 155-156

Bombylius Linnaeus

Bombylius Linnaeus, 1758: 606 . Type species: Bombylius major Linnaeus, 1758 , by subsequent designation

(Latreille, 1810: 443).

Comments: Greathead (1995) showed that most species of Bombylius sensu lato in Africa belong to other genera. As now defined, it is predominantly a Holarctic genus, represented in the Afrotropical Region principally by the Bombylius neithokris series and the B. modestus series of Bezzi (1924). The little-known Group 1 Section 4 of Hesse (1938), comprising four species from Namibia and the Karoo, may also belong.

Keys: Palaearctic, Engel (1932 –7), Paramonov (1940 b); Egypt, Efflatoun (1945) ; southern Africa, Hesse (1938); Bombylius neithokris group (Greathead 1991 b) and B. modestus group (Greathead 1967 but note changes in nomenclature).

Hosts:Afrotropical species have not been reared, but several Holarctic species are known as predators in the nests of solitary bees ( du Merle 1975).

Subgenus Bombylius Linnaeus

Distribution: Holarctic, Afrotropical and Oriental Regions (Greathead 1995). North Africa: about 26 species. Canary Islands: 3 species; B. aaroni Báez , B. oceanus Becker , B. pintaurius Báez. Africa South of the Sahara: 22 species, including B. neithokris group, 10 species ( South Africa – Egypt), and Bombylius modestus group, 7 species, (Sahel – Arabia). Socotra: 2 species; B. socotrae Greathead , B. terminatus Becker.

Subgenus Zephyrectes Evenhuis

Zephyrectes Evenhuis, 1978 a: 33 . Type species: Bombylius anthophoroides Evenhuis, 1977 , by original designation.

Distribution: Holarctic. North Africa: 3 species; Bombylius cinerarius Pallas & Wiedemann ( Egypt) , B. cruciatus Fabricius ( Egypt, Morocco), B. leucopygus Macquart ( Algeria, Morocco).