Poecilognathus punctipennis 

Poecilognathus Bee Fly

Florida native

Click on any image to open the slideshow

Most reports of this insect are from Florida. There have been sightings in the Dallas, Texas area.
Females of this species are known to knock the pollen off the anthers of the Spiderwort - Commelinaceae - family of plants and ingest the pollen, as this insect was seen doing on Florida scrub roseling, as can be seen in this video.

Thanks to Morgan Jackson for the ID via twitter of this bee fly.
"Bee Fly on Roseling" won Honorable Mention in the Orange Audubon Society's 2018 (30th Annual) Kit and Sidney Chertok Florida Native Nature Photography Contest. The image shows an extreme close-up of a Poecilognathus bee fly on an endemic Florida scrub roseling flower.

Poecilognathus punctipennis is a member of the Bombyliidae - Bee Flies family.

For more information on this species, visit the following link:
Bugguide.net page for this genus

Date record last modified: Sep 05, 2020