Philoliche (Phara) bivirgulata Austen, 1937 - Identification

Small black or blackish brown species (length 13 to 14 mm), with dorsum of main portion of thorax (scutum) marked by two dull longitudinal stripes, tawny-olive, sharply defined and conspicuous in female, drab and less conspicuous in male. Dorsum of thorax with swelling at each end of transverse suture clothed with shining maize-yellow hair, brighter in female than in male; hind border of dorsum of main portion of thorax also clothed with similar hair. Tip of abdomen in female abd male genitalia orange-cinnamon. Dorsum of abdomen in male with potches, in female with transverse bands, of appressed, glistening, pale yellow or buff-yellow hair. Wings ochraceous-tawny anteriorly on basal half, darker (sepia-coloured) at tips.

Original description by Austen:
Austen, E.E. 1937. New genera and species of Ethiopian Tabanidae, subfamily Pangoniinae (Diptera). Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (C) 107: 31-34.
https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1937.tb00008.x

Illustration of Thorax:

Recorded from grassland and Lowveld savanna (KZN).

iNat record: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/142446811

Posted on 10 de julho de 2023, 09:34 AM by traianbertau