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Just for fun - some nice Pantophthalmidae
ChrisR	#1 Posted on 11-05-2009 22:47
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	Just for fun and in no particular expectation of an identification, here are some photos of my pantophthalmids (try saying that after a few beers! ) All were collected in French Guiana; the first is a male and the rest are females. Pantophthalmids are extremely large flies - the size of these specimens ranges in body length from 36mm to the "smallest" at 25mm and I think my specimens are certainly not considered "large" for pantos. The family is related to the Stratiomyidae but panto larvae bore into live wood. The small white flecks on the abdomen are phoretic mites - something pantos seem particularly prone to. There are a few more photos on my blog . ChrisR attached the following image: [53.19Kb] Edited by ChrisR on 11-05-2009 22:56 Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


ChrisR	#2 Posted on 11-05-2009 22:47
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	and another... ChrisR attached the following image: [52.77Kb] Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


ChrisR	#3 Posted on 11-05-2009 22:48
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	and another... ChrisR attached the following image: [42.8Kb] Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


ChrisR	#4 Posted on 11-05-2009 22:48
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	and another... ChrisR attached the following image: [51.53Kb] Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


ChrisR	#5 Posted on 11-05-2009 22:48
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	and another... ChrisR attached the following image: [48.96Kb] Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


ChrisR	#6 Posted on 11-05-2009 22:49
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	and another... ChrisR attached the following image: [54Kb] Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


ChrisR	#7 Posted on 11-05-2009 22:49
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	and another... ChrisR attached the following image: [76.93Kb] Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


Di-dier	#8 Posted on 12-05-2009 18:45
Member Location: Bruxelles Posts: 45 Joined: 05.03.07	Hello Chris, I'm impressed... and very jealous. I shoud go to the neotropical region. At least once. But there are even bigger flies. Maybe you will find Mydas eros, the biggest fly of the neotropical region (and in the world): 80 mm long!!


ChrisR	#9 Posted on 12-05-2009 19:01
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	Yes, I'd always recommend that people see the neotropics - it's a wonderful place if you are fascinated by insects and biodiversity. Collecting isn't as easy as you might think though, so for doing a serious project it is still worth using plenty of traps and allowing a lot of time. If you can get someone to do the trapping for you it is the best solution I think. One of the main problems is that, unlike Europe where the majority of insects are found at ground level flying along standard flight-lines, in the neotropics they are located high in the tree canopy or any number of diverse habitats. Malaise traps have to be placed in some very unusual places to really trap decent quantities of insects. It might seem amazing but I have trapped more insects in 2 days in England than I trapped in French Guiana in a week! Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


conopid	#10 Posted on 12-05-2009 19:47
Member Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1039 Joined: 02.07.04	Chris, These are gorgeous flies - real stunners. What a pity that they cannot readily be seen at ground level. Sounds like there is every possibility that any fly one might find by trapping in the tree canopy, could be new to science. Thus I wonder if any of yours are undescribed? Nigel Jones, Shrewsbury, United Kingdom


ChrisR	#11 Posted on 12-05-2009 21:34
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	In the case of the pantophthalmids, I am guessing most are described because there has been some work on them over the years because they are wood pests. But sure there might be a few undiscovered species (only 22 are known) and Martin Hauser said that there might be some redundant names etc ... so work needs to be done. Actually, with regard to pantos, they are not too hard to find (apparently) because they can be attracted to light traps run at dusk. As far as tachinids go, there are likely to be a lot of undescribed species, which is one reason that I am not trying to identify them yet. I am just splitting them into morphotypes and when I am sure I have a few examples of the same taxon I will try some identifications, using local experts You're right that a lot of insects are not flying along traditional flight lines because there are far less habitat margins at ground level and flowers are often to be found at the treetops ... ground level in a rainforest can be amazingly "green" and lacking in flowers. In fact I have seen a few Malaise traps fixed off the ground amongst trees, presumably to pick up more profitable flight paths Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


Eric Fisher	#12 Posted on 13-05-2009 00:59
Member Location: California Posts: 435 Joined: 19.05.06	Chris, A splendid collection of pantophthalmids! Your Diptera blog is very nice too, and I was quite interested in your discussion on French Guiana (I'd love to visit there). I have collected several species of pantos by net. I have always seen them sitting on recently fallen trees -- in 'light gaps' -- which is the same habitat I look for Andrenosoma robber flies (my favorites). Pantos especially seem to favor trees in the family Bombacaceae (silk cotton trees); often you can see panto pupal cases (empty ones) protruding from the trunks of the fallen trees. Eric


ChrisR	#13 Posted on 13-05-2009 12:41
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	I was interested to see that you have seen evidence of them feeding on fallen timber, as they have a reputation for feeding on live wood. Do you think that pantos are just not fussy about the kind of wood they attack or are just some species more attracted to live wood and the others attracted to dead, fallen timber? Is there anything about the wood on the Bombacaceae that makes it different or possibly more palitable? Is it a soft wood or does it grow on any particular habitats/aspects? I wonder how many years they spend in the larval stage too? Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


Eric Fisher	#14 Posted on 13-05-2009 14:43
Member Location: California Posts: 435 Joined: 19.05.06	Yes, I remember reading a study from Brazil that talked about an economically important timber pest in this family; said that larvae could be heard chewing wood while still inside a living tree. I don't know whether they are not fussy or have different life history strategies per species. Many definitely are attracted to recently fallen trees though -- where the larvae develop. I observed one Bombacaceae tree (Ceiba sp. -- a kapok) in Panama, dead for about 6 to 12 months -- that had well over 50 empty pupae visible on the surface of the large trunk. Trees of this family have very soft wood (Balsa is a member; so is Baobo.


ChrisR	#15 Posted on 13-05-2009 14:48
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04	Ahh, interesting ... it surprised me that Diptera would be capable of boring into solid, living wood - they don't usually have such well-developed jaws and musculature. But perhaps wood as soft as that is similar in consistency to dead wood of some other species? Anyway, wood is notorious as a very poor source of nutrients so I wonder if the eggs of your emerged pantos might have been actually laid anything up to 2-3 years earlier, when the tree was still alive? Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.

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