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Hi


This was spotted near Sagres on 12th August 2008. It was spotted on a beach on sand, near algae. They are extremely quick and with about 4 mm.

What can it be? It has some resemblance with one milichiid...

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another...

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Jorge, i think will be nice to see the whole fly ;)
this in general (after i have seen your last posts).

cosmln

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here comes the full body :P

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Could it be Neolimnophora virgo, Muscidae ? :o

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st?phane why the admiration? ;)

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this fly in ethanol turn out be all black very quickly! I never saw such thing. Decoloring so quick, in only 1 second!

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i was analyzing the specimen, and really the hind femur has no pv! :) Also there are no abdominal spots. I agree: this must be a N. virgo! :)
this is even better than the Achanthiptera :P

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The colour disappears that quickly because it is dusting. When a pale colour is cause by dusting it virtually always it disappears when the specimen is immerged in alcohol. You see the same thing happening with, for example, Dolichopodidae (dull grey-green Medetera instantly turn metallic green), Chamaemyiidae (distinctive silvery grey Leucopis suddenly are non-descript dark little flies) and numerous others. Since many dust patterns are in someway distinctive (helping identification) many entomologists are not to keen on material in alcohol. However, with a trained eye and good lighting you can still see the dust patterns. The colour of ducting, now that can be more problematic... ;)

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Very interesting! Thanks for this new info, Paul. :)

I found this written by Adrian: "A problem with wet preserved material is that dusting is hard to see . However it is usually possible with a bit of experience and changing the lighting and background carefully. I find that alcohol preserves morphology (apart from dusting) much better than does dry-mounting but colour can be a problem. Experience with a particular key usually solves this problem but not always, especially as wet material tends to fade." :) in
http://www.dipter...owstart=20

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another shot.

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I hope Jere or Nikita could confirm my guess. The thickened arista in basal part, the typical frons with very large frontal triangle and multiple rows of setae let me think it's Neolimnophora . Moreover, the 2 rows presut. ac. with small one between them and small size lead to Neolimnophora virgo (Villeneuve,1906).
Neolimnophora is sea coasts genus, so, it is at most only locally common.

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yep. It makes sense. The Atlantic ocean :) was about less 1 km from the local I saw this beauty. The frontalia of this muscid is so beautiful.

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I swear, I did not read that before I posted. :D

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As more I see, I'm convinced that this is really a Neolimnophora virgo. Silvery dusting, that typical triangle on frons, the absence of abdominal spots, the absence of pv in hind femur...
let's go wait for Nikita or Jere for final confirmation. :D

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I still need confirmation for this one. thank you.

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I still need confirmation for this one. thank you.

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the habitat for Neolimnophora virgo. :)
spectacular place.

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S. Lebrun has just confirmed that this is a Neolimnophora virgo. :)