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An extract from Dipterists Digest 2005 12(1) 58.

The identification of Palloptera anderssoni Rotheray & MacGowan, 1999

Palloptera anderssoni Rotheray & MacGowan, 1999 was described from material collected in Scotland and Finland. The character which first alerted the authors to this taxon was the lack of shading on the wing tip. In describing it they stated that the ?consistency of clear wings in all material was striking, and shading did not develop as specimens aged?. In spring 2004 I collected a sample of bark and underlying cambium from an oak log. On 9 May a single male Palloptera emerged and before the end of the day it had developed a dark shade on the wing tip, thus I presumed it to be P. ustulata Fall?n, 1820. On 11 May a female emerged, but when this one died without my intervention its wings were still entirely clear. This prompted me to dissect the male and the long forked process at the tip of the aedeagus proved that it was P. anderssoni. A further 3 males and 4 females emerged up to 16 June, all of the males and one of the females with at least a small discernable dark shade on the wing tip. I then dissected my male specimens identified as P. ustulata. Of these 3 were P. ustulata but one proved to be another P. anderssoni. This netted specimen had an even darker, and slightly more extensive shade on the wing tip than the reared specimens. It was also by far the most southern specimen yet reported; it would be interesting to see if the wing shade tends to disappear as one moves north. All the other characters used by Rotheray & MacGowan (1999) seem to fit my specimens well.

SOMERSET VC6, Leigh Woods ST5573, 9 v ? 16 vi 2004 x Quercus bark 4a94;5a92;
DEVON VC3, Greenway SX8754, 12 viii 2003 1a94;