Diptera.info :: Identification queries :: Diptera (adults)
 Tachinid? Sarcophagid?
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| Sundew |
Posted on 05-07-2008 23:27
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 Member Location: Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, Germany Posts: 3938 Joined: 28.07.07 |
Hi, This small grey fly fed on Tripleurospermum maritimum florets yesterday. It looks a bit sarcophagid-like, but it is so small, and I feel it could be a Tachinid as well. So I hope for help! Thanks, Sundew Sundew attached the following image:  [155.93Kb] |
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| Xespok |
Posted on 06-07-2008 09:23
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 Member Location: Debrecen, Hungary Posts: 5551 Joined: 02.03.05 |
I think Sarcophagid. There are flies from 4mm to 2o mm with this pattern.
Gabor Keresztes Japan Wildlife Gallery Carpathian Basin Wildlife Gallery |
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| jorgemotalmeida |
Posted on 06-07-2008 10:25
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 Member Location: Viseu - PORTUGAL Posts: 9296 Joined: 05.06.06 |
checkered abdomen, traffic red eyes, usually sarcophagids has worn wings (not useful feature, of course), vittae on scutum fits for a sarcophagid too. I think it is a female because pulvilli are very small in this specimen. |
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| Sundew |
Posted on 06-07-2008 13:58
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Member Location: Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, Germany Posts: 3938 Joined: 28.07.07 |
I agree, of course, that all the mentioned features point to Sarcophagidae, but in the Tachinidae gallery there are several species with red eyes and a rather similar body pattern, too. So you would see no subscutellum in the pic below? That would convince me to accept one of the smallest sarcophagids ever known  !
Sundew attached the following image:  [168.91Kb] |
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| jorgemotalmeida |
Posted on 06-07-2008 18:46
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Member Location: Viseu - PORTUGAL Posts: 9296 Joined: 05.06.06 |
THIS photos change my opinion. Tachinidae. It has subscutellum!  |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 06-07-2008 19:26
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 Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
I am willing to be proven wrong but I am not sure that photo shows a subscutellum at all. All I see is a paler strip below the scutellum, which could be just the membrane between the scutellum and tergite 1. To be sure I think we'd have to see more of it or see it from the side  |
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| jorgemotalmeida |
Posted on 06-07-2008 19:28
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Member Location: Viseu - PORTUGAL Posts: 9296 Joined: 05.06.06 |
it really seems to be a subscutellum. |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 06-07-2008 19:38
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Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
Maybe an enlargement of the photo in the first post (top right) would help, as it seems to be looking down from a better angle? Everything else about the fly says "sarcophagid" to me but there are some dexiines that can look very similar. |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 06-07-2008 19:42
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Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
Maybe an enlargement of the photo in the first post (top right) would help, as it seems to be looking down from a better angle? Everything else about the fly says "sarcophagid" to me but there are some dexiines that can look very similar. |
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| Sundew |
Posted on 06-07-2008 22:29
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Member Location: Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, Germany Posts: 3938 Joined: 28.07.07 |
Here come all the other pics I have that might enlighten the case, good and less good, and though they are many, the region below the scutellum is still obscure. If the grey part is a membrane, it is more or less perpendicular if the fly bows down, and gets folded if it straightens. In folded state, it would look like a somewhat bulging but not protruding subscutellum. In any case there is some space between scutellum and abdomen. You have the trained eyes - make the best of the stuff... I wished we could ask Theo, too! Regards, Sundew Sundew attached the following image:  [150.95Kb] |
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| jorgemotalmeida |
Posted on 06-07-2008 22:35
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Member Location: Viseu - PORTUGAL Posts: 9296 Joined: 05.06.06 |
not tachinid.  It is a membrane. Chris had reason. |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 06-07-2008 22:38
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Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
Thanks Sundew - that confirms it - no subscutellum - Sarcophagidae. What you are seeing is a membrane below the scutellum and the pollinose/grey part of the thorax that slopes down towards where it joins T1. |
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| Sundew |
Posted on 06-07-2008 23:18
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Member Location: Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, Germany Posts: 3938 Joined: 28.07.07 |
Well, Chris, you seem to be relieved... But I promise: the next small grey and black one will be a true Tachinid (it is already waiting!) Many thanks for all efforts, Sundew |
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