false bee-killer

False bee-killer is a large robber fly. It occurs in the United States east of the Great Plains and in adjacent Canadian provinces. It is most common in the southeastern states. It is uncommon in Minnesota.

Adults are 1″ to 1¼″ in length, the females a little larger than the males. The thorax is arched and stout. The abdomen is half cylindrical, rounded on top, flat below, widest at the base, and tapering to the tip. It is black above, brown below and on the sides. On the male there is a ring of white or yellow hairs at the rear margin of each of the first four or five abdominal segments, and a pair of white hair tufts above at the tip that can be easily seen when the male is in flight.

There are two large compound eyes and three small simple eyes (ocelli). The compound eyes extend above the level of the top of the head (vertex), making the head appear hollowed out between the eyes when viewed from the front. They do not meet at the top of the head on either sex. The ocelli are arranged in a triangle on a prominent rounded projection (tubercle) in the middle of the head between the compound eyes. The upper face is covered with long, erect hairs. There is a dense mustache of long stiff bristles (mystax) on the face between the compound eyes at the lower margin, and a cluster of forward-directed bristles (a “beard”) on the lower part of the face. The hairs on the upper face, the mystax, and the beard are all yellow or yellowish-white. The antennae are short and have 3 segments. The third segment is elongated but is not subdivided by rings (annulated) and does not have a long bristle (arista).

The legs are stout. The last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has five segments. The last segment has 2 pads.

On the wing, the anal cell is longer than the second basal cell and is closed near the wing margin.

Total length: 1″ to 1¼″

They buzz loudly when flying.

Bees and wasps

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Infraorder
Orthorrhapha was historically one of two infraorders of Brachycera, a suborder of Diptera. However, Orthorrhapha was paraphyletic, meaning that it did not contain all of the descendants of the last common ancestor. It was split into five extant (still existing) and one extinct infraorder. Orthorrhapha is now considered obsolete and has not been used in the last decade, but it persists in printed literature and on some online sources. A recent revision of the order Diptera (Pape, et al., 2011) revived the name Orthorrhapha, but this has not been widely accepted.

limits of Brainerd. Sitting on my lap to scope out next meal

Giant Robber Fly - Promachus Bastardii
Colette Micallef

A. Houde
7/30/2025

Location: Crow Wing County

limits of Brainerd. Sitting on my lap to scope out next meal

Location: Blaine, Mn

Location: Spring Lake Park in Anoka County

Location: New London, MN

the kids found it. Appeared to have an injured wing.