Alcimus tristrigatus

Alcimus tristrigatus

Alcimus tristrigatus is a robber fly in the Alcimus genus.
Robber fly with prey (Spittle bug perhaps) Alcimus tristrigatus,Asilidae,Geotagged,South Africa,Spring,diptera,flies,insects,robber flies

Appearance

Alcimus tristrigatus is large, with a wingspan of 25mm. Pale brown, elongate, oval dark brown mark on thorax and dark brown square on each abdominal segment. Females wit long ovipositor.
Alcimus tristrigatus Alcimus tristrigatus,Geotagged,Malaysia,Spring

Naming

Loew 1858

Distribution

East and South coast regions of South Africa

Behavior

Rests on ground mimicking short-horned grasshoppers, its major prey item, in appearance and flight.

Habitat

Bare ground, often on river banks or on tips of bushes.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

http://eol.org/pages/713008/overview
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilidae
Field Guide to Insects of South Africa: Mike Picker,Charles Griffiths,Alan Weaving. Struik Nature 2004. p.278
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderDiptera
FamilyAsilidae
GenusAlcimus
SpeciesAlcimus tristrigatus
Photographed in
Malaysia
South Africa