Pogonioefferia bicaudata (Hine)

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 : 39

Pogonioefferia bicaudata (Hine)

Erax bicaudatus Hine 1919: 138 .

Recognition characters: Gray species; length 15–22 mm; mystax white with few black bristles on oral margin; bristles and setae of mesonotum largely black, postpronotal setae white, notopleurals straw white, other marginal bristles variable in color; meral bristles straw white; scutellar setae largely white, few black, marginal bristles straw white; in males abdominal tergites 2–5 white setae, segments 6 and 7 silvery white pollinose; legs brown, the femora being darker than tibiae and tarsi. Can be differentiated from P. helenae on the basis of the structure of the male basistyle that has a short pointed upper arm in bicaudata , which is lacking in P. helenae . Female cerci arise medially in P. bicaudata , but ventrally in P. helenae .

Distribution: ALBANY: 11 km E of Centennial, 2–30 Aug. 1960 ( RJL); West Laramie, 18 July–1 Aug. 1960 ( RJL), 9 Oct. ( RJL). BIG HORN: 11 km from junction of Rte. 20 and local road to Burlington, 22 Aug. 1963 ( RJL, LJS); Greybull, 7 Sept. 1965 ( RJL); FREMONT: Gas Hills Rd., Riverton, 9 Sept. 1963 ( RJL, LJS), 21 Aug. 1964 ( RJL, FRH); 16 km S of Shoshoni ( RJL). LARAMIE: Cheyenne, 18 Oct.1956; Laramie, 1 Sept. 1945 ( REP); Pine Bluffs, 5 Sept. 1964 ( LJS). NATRONA: South Fork of Powder River at Highway 20, 3 km W of town of Powder River ( HBL) (two specimens in CAS). NIOBRARA: 4 Sept. 1943 ( REP). PLATTE: Camp Guernsey, WANG, 2001b, ( CSU, GMAD); Dwyer, 18 Aug.–10 Sept. 1959, 27 July–3 Aug. 1960 ( RJL); Glendo, 5 Sept. 1957, ( DRT); Gray Rocks Ranch, Camp Guernsey, 29 Aug.–5 Sept. 2008 ( CSU, GMAD; Guernsey, 8 Aug. 1952 ( REP), 4 Aug.–9 Oct. 1960, 25 Aug 1961, 5 Sept. 1962, 1 Sept. 1965 ( RJL). Recorded from Wyoming by: Dennis et al. (2009, 2010) (as Efferia bicaudata ); Geller-Grimm (2018); Lavigne [(1964) (misidentified, corrected to Efferia helenae in Lavigne & Holland (1969) ].

The revision of the genus Efferia by Wilcox (1966b) has required a reevaluation of the paper by Lavigne (1964). Subsequent reexamination of the genitalia of the specimens formerly referred to as Efferia bicaudata has revealed that all the biological observations refer to Pogonioefferia helenae (Bromley) . The map ( Fig. 1 ) shown in Lavigne (1964) should be disregarded since it refers to a complex of 3 species.

Habitat: Saltbrush-greasewood shrub, sagebrush steppe shrub and grassland, and grama-needlegrass-wheatgrass and grama-buffalo grass grassland vegetation types. Open range, short-mid grass plains.

Ethology: Rests on and forages from soil.

Prey: The prey records in Lavigne (1964), which should be referred to bicaudata , are included in the following records. Glendo should have instead read Dwyer and prey records for Glendo other than the ones included here should be regarded as suspect. DIPTERA , Bombyliidae : Pthiria sulphurea Loew , Guernsey, 1 Oct. 1960; Poecilanthrax sp.; Systoechus vulgaris Loew, Centennial , 30 Aug. 1960; Villa sp. (two records). HEMIPTERA (Homoptera) , Cicadellidae : Balclutha neglecta (DeLong and Davidson) , West Laramie, 26 July 1960; Cuerna gladiola Oman and Beamer, Dwyer , 19 Aug. 1959. HYMENOPTERA , Braconidae : Ascogaster rufa Muesebeck and Walkley , West Laramie, 25 July 1960; Formicidae : Halictidae : Lasioglossum (Chloralictus) sp.; Pompilidae : Anoplius sp. LEPI- DOPTERA, Noctuidae : Platyperigea camina (Smith) , Gas Hills Road, Riverton, 9 Oct. 1963. ORTHOPTERA , Acrididae : Melanoplus infantilis Scudder, Centennial , 19 Aug. 1960; Opeia obscura (Thomas) , Guernsey, 9 Oct. 1960; Trimerotropis gracilis (Thomas) , 16 km S of Shoshoni, 5 Oct. 1966; Trimerotropis pistrinaria Saussure, Greybull , 7 Oct. 1965. DIPTERA , HEMIPTERA (Homoptera) , HYMENOPTERA , LEPIDOPTERA , ORTHOPTERA (see Dennis et al. 2009, 2010; Lavigne & Pfadt 1966; Rogers & Lavigne 1972, all as Efferia bicaudata ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Map of counties and major cities in Wyoming.