Diptera.info - Discussion Forum: Urophora terebrans?

Diptera.info :: Identification queries :: Diptera (adults)

Who is here? 1 guest(s)

Urophora terebrans?
Ingrid Altmann	#1 Posted on 20-02-2017 19:50
Member Location: Posts: 1018 Joined: 29.11.09	Hello, a friend found this fly on 20.7.08 near Furth im Wald, Bavarian Forest, Bavaria, Germany on a forest Meadow on Cirsium. Body length: 3,9 mm Wing length: 4 mm Could this be Urophora terebrans (or aprica)? Regards Ingrid Ingrid Altmann attached the following image: [98.65Kb]


Ingrid Altmann	#2 Posted on 20-02-2017 19:51
Member Location: Posts: 1018 Joined: 29.11.09	next photo Ingrid Altmann attached the following image: [86.4Kb]


Ingrid Altmann	#3 Posted on 20-02-2017 19:51
Member Location: Posts: 1018 Joined: 29.11.09	Wing Ingrid Altmann attached the following image: [72.87Kb]


Nosferatumyia	#4 Posted on 22-02-2017 07:34
Member Location: Posts: 3404 Joined: 28.12.07	Unfortunately, I need a female to tell certainly. It looks more like Urophora congrua, which is common in the mountain meadow and is associated with sticky-yellow-flowered Cirsium thistles, has black femora and wide subbasal crossband on the wing. The variability in U. terebrans (which has wider range of host plants) in montane populations remains obscure (terebrans specimens from Ukraine and Italy are yellow-legged, but a few known specimens from mountains also have black femora), so I'd keep myself from 100% ID as congrua until the tip of female aculeus can be examined. Edited by Nosferatumyia on 22-02-2017 07:36 Val


Ingrid Altmann	#5 Posted on 22-02-2017 13:50
Member Location: Posts: 1018 Joined: 29.11.09	Dear Valery, thank you for your detailed explanation. The problem with U. congrua is that Cirsium erisithales doesn´t grow in our Region. So it would be really necessesary to find a female of this species..


Nosferatumyia	#6 Posted on 23-02-2017 01:50
Member Location: Posts: 3404 Joined: 28.12.07	Even if you can estimate a circle of possible host plants (Cirsium and Centaurea species) growing there, it can clarify the situation. Many local populations of Urophora spp. shift from one host to another. But the most probable candidates look to be large Cirsium spp., e.g., Cirs. eriophorum (the host of U. terebrans) or another, previously unknown to be a host of U. congrua. But, again: montane populations often look darker than the lowland ones... Val


Ingrid Altmann	#7 Posted on 24-02-2017 19:11
Member Location: Posts: 1018 Joined: 29.11.09	Thank you very much Valery. During the next isect season we´ll look at the host plants in this area. And I hope we´ll find further Thephritidae.