Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Beautiful Tachinidae, Phasiinae fly from Brazil..

Posted by ChrisR on 23-10-2010 19:44
#8

The problem is that everything in the photo is technically the same species ... and without close examination of genitalia, bristles & hairs we will never know.

The neotropical fauna is so under-studied that a lot (most?) are not classified yet and we are still unsure where the species boundaries are. That's why in the tropics it is even more important than in Europe to take specimens. It isn't that we can't identify them without a specimen. Without a specimen we simply don't have the primary research to be able to classify the fauna ... and without knowing which species an area has we will never have the information to protect them.

Politicians love to talk about protecting biodiversity but we know so little that any estimate of how many species a patch of forest has is likely to be a gross under estimate. If only we could classify all the species and know a little more about them we would be able to add more weight to the voices that protect them from destruction.

The photos are a lovely and tantalising glimpse of what you have seen - and they give us a nice idea of how they sit in life and how they behave. But (sadly) it's not possible to photograph the places we need to see without killing it. But killing a few will in the end help to protect the many :)

Edited by ChrisR on 23-10-2010 19:53