Thick-headed fly

Fly that mimics a solitary wasp. Conopidae family.

Lustrous little fly with a black and yellow colour pattern.The head is broad and the frons is broad in both sexes. The antennae have three segments, the third bearing a dorsal bare arista or terminal style. Above the antennae is an inflatable ptilinum. The oral opening is large and the proboscis is long and slender and often geniculate. The base of the abdomen is constricted.
Face below antennal implant with a black stripe, above the antennal implant blackish. The black stripe below antennal implant is rounded at its lower end; hind edges of tergites 3-5 with wide, indistinqtly delimited dust bands which are clearly broader in the middle. Femora 1-2 reddish that distinguish P. rufipes from P. laticincta which has the femora 1-2 basally blackish. In the female the abdomen is black with yellowish bands of dust.

Adults are frequent flower visitors, that are found on Composites, Umbellifers, etc. Their larvae are endoparasites of bumble bees of the genus Bombus.