New Records of Coleoptera as Prey of Robber Flies1 in Eastern New Mexico and West Texas

Recent collecting of robber flies and their prey in eastern New Mexico and adjacent west Texas produced 313 specimens in 20 families of Coleoptera being fed upon by more than 44 species in 16 genera of Asilidae. The specimens represent 171 unique predator-prey combinations of which 120 have not been reported previously. The main beetle families preyed upon were Carabidae (26%), Scarabaeidae (24%), Melyridae (15%), Chrysomelidae (14%), and Curculionidae (5%). Only one or two specimens were in each of seven other families of Coleoptera. The main asilid predators of beetles were species in genera Cerotainiops Curran, Efferia Coquillett, and Proctacanthella Bromley. Based on non-Coleoptera prey for Asilidae collected in this study, no robber fly seemed to specialize in beetles. About half of the asilids with beetle prey were collected with only one or two specimens. Corrigenda are provided for prey records previously published by Pollock and Lavigne (2019).