Thread subject: Diptera.info :: what family is this dancing fly?
Posted by Toby on 11-06-2010 23:57
#1
dancing above margin of lake with piece of vegetation dangling - quite a few individuals doing the same thing. Probably very obvious to you guys but I have not seen this before. SW London
Posted by Paul Beuk on 12-06-2010 07:15
#2
Ceratopogonidae. Never heared of this before. Certain it was piece of vegetation? Some midges also carry nematodes...
Posted by Toby on 12-06-2010 07:50
#3
okay that might well be the answer, I wasn't aware they could carry such large parasites!
Posted by Gunnar M Kvifte on 12-06-2010 10:39
#4
I would guess that the parasite is a horsehair worm (phylum Nematomorpha). As far as I know, they are the only known non-arthropod parasitoids. I haven't heard of them in Diptera before, so this is cool!
In most zoology classes, what you learn about Nematomorphans is their killing behaviour: The adults mate in fresh water, and thus mature specimens routinely cause drowning in their hosts (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ylDNMNNwaE).
Posted by Eric Fisher on 12-06-2010 19:21
#5
Racketman,
I found this discovery of yours to be most interesting -- and passed on the info to Dr. Art Borkent, who is a (the!) world authority on Ceratopogonidae. He says:
"...if this is from England, it is a female Mallochohelea nitida, with a ribbon of eggs dangling from her. This type of egg laying is present in a group of genera in the tribe Sphaeromiini. Good photo too! I'd be interested in getting a high resolution copy. Possible?
Cheers. Art
Dr. Art Borkent,
Salmon Arm, British Columbia,
V1E 2C2, Canada.
email: aborkent@sunlite.ca
website: http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/research/FLYTREE/Borkent.html"
Thanks for any help on this,
Eric
Posted by pwalter on 12-06-2010 20:53
#6
Wonderful!
Posted by Patrycja on 12-06-2010 23:27
#7
a high resolution copy? it is very good idea. May I also get this photo?
regards :)
patrycja
Posted by Toby on 13-06-2010 17:35
#8
Patrycja wrote:
a high resolution copy? it is very good idea. May I also get this photo?
regards :)
patrycja
if you give me your e mail address I can send as an attachment.
Toby Barton
Posted by Paul Beuk on 14-06-2010 09:06
#9
Don't forget our own Gallery here...
Posted by Toby on 14-06-2010 20:28
#10
Paul Beuk wrote:
Don't forget our own Gallery here...
I have read the help section on uploading to the gallery but to no avail; again if I can e mail as an attachment I will.
Posted by Paul Beuk on 14-06-2010 21:54
#11
Mainly you should make certain the size is less than 150000 bytes and there are no spaces in the file name.