Remarkable fly with eyes on its rear - Geminaria canalis, Bombyliidae
Here is another one of those remarkable Bee Flies (order Bombyliidae, Diptera) that seems to have eyes on its rear end - probably Geminaria canalis, see this photo. This one was working a flower cluster of native Coyote Mint aka White-leaf Monardella (Monardella hypoleuca, Lamiaceae) a few feet away, but it would retreat to this sandstone outcrop when I got too close. I spent some time photographing the fly, and it retreated to this rock several times. I finally had a chance to measure the fly in another photo today taken at 1:1 magnification - it's about 1680 pixels long, which comes to 6.6 mm, about 1/4 inch. (See here for how I figured.) Hah - its proboscis is another 1060 pixels long, which comes to 4.2 mm - almost another 3/16 inch! The faux eyes on its rear end really are remarkable. They shine just like Jumping Spider (Salticidae) eyes, and even have dark areas on the side to suggest more of the spider's eight eyes. And the fly's colors are pretty good camouflage on this sandstone rock all alone. I almost forgot, that black "thing" above the fly that looks like charcoal is a small crustose lichen. (East Camino Cielo, Santa Ynez Mountains, 12 August 2018)
Remarkable fly with eyes on its rear - Geminaria canalis, Bombyliidae
Here is another one of those remarkable Bee Flies (order Bombyliidae, Diptera) that seems to have eyes on its rear end - probably Geminaria canalis, see this photo. This one was working a flower cluster of native Coyote Mint aka White-leaf Monardella (Monardella hypoleuca, Lamiaceae) a few feet away, but it would retreat to this sandstone outcrop when I got too close. I spent some time photographing the fly, and it retreated to this rock several times. I finally had a chance to measure the fly in another photo today taken at 1:1 magnification - it's about 1680 pixels long, which comes to 6.6 mm, about 1/4 inch. (See here for how I figured.) Hah - its proboscis is another 1060 pixels long, which comes to 4.2 mm - almost another 3/16 inch! The faux eyes on its rear end really are remarkable. They shine just like Jumping Spider (Salticidae) eyes, and even have dark areas on the side to suggest more of the spider's eight eyes. And the fly's colors are pretty good camouflage on this sandstone rock all alone. I almost forgot, that black "thing" above the fly that looks like charcoal is a small crustose lichen. (East Camino Cielo, Santa Ynez Mountains, 12 August 2018)