Chrysopilus thoracicus (gold-backed snipe flies) (Skyline Caverns, Front Royal, Virginia, USA) 2

Description:

Summary[edit] Description: English: Chrysopilus thoracicus (Fabricius, 1805) - gold-backed snipe flies in Virginia, USA. (12 May 2016) This species of fly is remarkable for having intensely lustrous, golden-yellow hairs on the dorsal thorax. The individuals shown above are mating - the female is the upper fly (with eyes set apart) and the male is the lower fly (with eyes barely touching each other). Classification: Animalia, Arthropoda, Insecta, Diptera, Rhagionidae Locality: near the entrance of Skyline Caverns, near the town of Front Royal, central Warren County, northern Virginia, USA See info. at: www.mlbs.virginia.edu/organism/chrysopilus_thoracicus and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopilus. Date: 12 May 2016, 11:54:31. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/27909373705/. Author: James St. John.