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 Sphaeroceridae with strange wings from Gotland, Sweden
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| Johane |
Posted on 15-07-2016 21:41
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Member Location: Gothenburg, Sweden Posts: 1969 Joined: 27.08.13 |
Hi! I wonder about this Sphaeroceridae. The hind edge of its wings is curved inwards and has long hairs. Are there many species that have this feature and what is it used for? Johane attached the following image:  [33.2Kb] Edited by Johane on 15-07-2016 21:49 Johan Ennerfelt |
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| John Carr |
Posted on 16-07-2016 00:16
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 Super Administrator Location: Colorado, USA Posts: 10688 Joined: 22.10.10 |
Males of Coproica acutangula have that curled-under wing. See comment by Matthias Buck here: http://bugguide.n...83/bgimage. |
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| Johane |
Posted on 24-07-2016 13:59
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Member Location: Gothenburg, Sweden Posts: 1969 Joined: 27.08.13 |
Thanks John! Does anyone know what its function is? Display perhaps?
Johan Ennerfelt |
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| Jan Willem |
Posted on 25-07-2016 19:49
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 Member Location: Waalwijk, The Netherlands Posts: 2173 Joined: 24.07.04 |
Recently I also found a male of this species with such peculiar "winglashes". I'm also curious about the function.
Edited by Jan Willem on 25-07-2016 19:50 Jan Willem van Zuijlen |
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| Paul Beuk |
Posted on 26-07-2016 07:53
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 Super Administrator Location: Netherlands Posts: 19403 Joined: 11.05.04 |
I found scores of them over the past few years on horse manure and in horse stables. Function? Perhaps something in courtship display. Difficult to observe in these tiny critters that usually are surrounded by many others (specimens and species) around the manure.
Paul - - - - Paul Beuk on https://diptera.info |
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| Tony Irwin |
Posted on 26-07-2016 09:23
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 Member Location: Norwich, England Posts: 7353 Joined: 19.11.04 |
In many small flies, the males (and occasionally the females) vibrate their wings rapidly to produce "songs" to impress potential mates. If Coproica males "sing", it may be that the marginal bristles on acutangula males give their songs an enhanced tone or timbre. A great little project for someone with high resolution high speed camera and a large supply of horse poo!
Tony ---------- Tony Irwin |
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| Jan Willem |
Posted on 29-07-2016 10:35
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Member Location: Waalwijk, The Netherlands Posts: 2173 Joined: 24.07.04 |
I received some interesting information on this topic from Jindrich Rohacek: the curved hairs on emarginated male wing of C. acutangula (note: also discal cell is modified due to this emargination) serve during copulation to better hold the female wing; in other sphaerocerids the male mid leg is often modified for the same purpose (combs of curved setae or spines on tibiae and femora, curved tibia, see extreme case - Limosina silvatica), also the ventral hook on hind femur in Crumomyia nitida may serve similarly. There are also vice-versa modifications, e.g. in Phthitia empirica the 2nd costa sector (Cs2) of female wing is modified because the male holds by its armed middle legs the female wings just in Cs2.
Jan Willem van Zuijlen |
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