Omninablautus nigronotum (Wilcox)

Lavigne, Robert J. & Dennis, Steve, 2019, Robber flies (Insecta: Diptera: Asilidae) of Wyoming, USA with keys to genera and species, Zootaxa 4662 (1), pp. 1-126 : 84-85

Omninablautus nigronotum (Wilcox)

Ablautus nigronotum Wilcox, 1935: 224 . Recognition characters: Blackish brown species; length 6–9 mm; mystax white; thorax black with white setae, bristles yellowish in males and brownish in females; scutellar setae white and a clump of white erect bristles posteriorly; wings hyaline, veins yellow or brown; abdominal segments 1–7 of male and 1–6 of female gray pollinose, segments 1–6 or 7 with central bare spots and 2–6 or 7 with lateral bare spots; legs brownish to black, femora and tibiae reddish basally, pulvilli absent; setae of legs white, bristles variable.

Distribution: SWEETWATER: Point of Rocks, 14 km W (Thayer Jct.), 25 July–2 Aug. 1979 ( RJL). Recorded from Wyoming by: Lavigne & Pogue (2009).

Habitat: Saltbrush-greasewood shrub, and sagebrush steppe shrub and grassland vegetation types. At Thay- er Jct. this species was found within and along the banks of intermittent stream beds in the same macro-habitat as Laphystia rufofasciata , on sandy substrate in a greasewood vegetation type habitat [ Sarcobatus vermiculatus (Hook.) Torr. ], Chenopodiaceae (goosefoot family) community.

Ethology: Forages primarily from the surface of sandy substrate; courtship (see Lavigne & Pogue 2009).

Prey: COLEOPTERA , DIPTERA , HEMIPTERA (Heteroptera, Homoptera) , HYMENOPTERA (see Lavigne & Pogue 2009).