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ABSTRACT
Diogmites crudelis Bromley, 1936 (during 106 hours of observation) foraged from the ground and vegetation, capturing and immobilizing prey in flight. Identified prey came from three insect orders (Diptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera), with Hymenoptera making up 81.7%. Mating occurred in the tail-to-tail position and oviposition was in the ground, typically in the shade of vegetation when the sun was shining. This species exhibited a distinct daily rhythm of activity for feeding from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM and oviposition from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Habitats, resting behavior, grooming behavior, and predators and parasites also are discussed.
Key words: Behavior, robber flies, prey, Diptera, Asilidae.
INTRODUCTION
The genus Diogmites has 175 species and is found only in the Nearctic and Neotropical zoogeographic regions of the world (Barnes, 2010; Geller-Grimm, 2013). There are 22 species in the United States of America (U.S.A.) part of the Nearctic region and the ethology of two species [D. angustipennis Loew, 1866 (Lavigne and Holland, 1969) and D. missouriensis Bromley, 1951 (Scarbrough, 1979)] has been described in detail, with other publications limiting themselves to habitat and prey (D. angustipennis in Barnes, 2010; Bromley, 1930 as Deromyia angustipennis and Deromyia symmacha, 1934 as D. angustipennis and D. symmachus, 1936 as D. angustipennis, D. grossus, and D. symmachus; Cole, 1969 as D. angustipennis and D. grossus; Dennis et al., 2010; James, 1938 as D. angustipennis and D. symmachus; Lavigne and Pfadt, 1966; Linsley, 1958 as D. symmachus, 1960 as D. angustipennis, D. symmachus, and D. grossus; Scarbrough, 1972 as D. symmachus; and D. missouriensis in Artigas, 1966; Bromley, 1950b; Dennis et al., 2010; Scarbrough, 1972).
Information primarily on habitat and/or prey and some behavioral observations for other species of Diogmites has been reported for: D. basalis (Walker, 1851) (Artigas, 1966; Baker and Fischer, 1975; Bromley, 1914, 1930, 1931a and b, all as Deromyia umbrina Loew, 1866); Bromley, 1936, 1942, 1946b, 1947, 1950b, all as D. umbrinus; Goslin, 1950 as D. umbrinus; Linsley, 1958 as D. umbrina, 1960 as D. umbrinus; McAtee and Banks, 1920 as Deromyia umbrina); D. bilobatus Barnes, 2010 (Barnes, 2010); D. contortus Bromley, 1936 (Bromley, 1936; Cole, 1969); D. crudelis Bromley, 1936 (Artigas, 1966; Bromley, 1936, 1946a, 1950a; Fattig, 1945); D. discolor Loew, 1866 (Artigas, 1966; Baker and...