Diptera.info :: Identification queries :: Diptera (adults)
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 Tachinids in love - Cylindromyia?
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| Sundew |
Posted on 02-07-2009 14:06
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 Member Location: Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, Germany Posts: 3917 Joined: 28.07.07 |
Hi, Today I saw this nice couple on a Centaurea bud. The abdomina look short, but they are folded, so it might well be Cylindromyia. Can a species name be given? Thanks, Sundew Sundew attached the following image:  [188.7Kb] |
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| Sundew |
Posted on 03-07-2009 15:03
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Member Location: Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, Germany Posts: 3917 Joined: 28.07.07 |
Well, I just found Gordon's thread (http://www.dipter...d_id=22863) about a similar couple, also yet unnamed. Interestingly, in his pair the smaller one (probably male) is up and the bigger (female) is down. My flies play it vice versa - is this a matter of feminism or just for fun? Where are the Tachinid copulation methods' experts? |
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| Roger Thomason |
Posted on 03-07-2009 15:08
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 Member Location: Mossbank,Shetland Isles. Posts: 5268 Joined: 17.07.08 |
Old saying; A change is as good as a rest.  |
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| Zeegers |
Posted on 03-07-2009 17:12
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Member Location: Soest, NL Posts: 19009 Joined: 21.07.04 |
Not sure what you mean by vice versa, but also in your case the upper one is male. It seems to be C. auriceps. Theo |
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| Sundew |
Posted on 03-07-2009 17:29
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Member Location: Berlin and Baden-Württemberg, Germany Posts: 3917 Joined: 28.07.07 |
I see - size doesn't matter in Tachinids, I remember. (It depends from the size and fatness of the larval host, doesn't it?) So my sweet little female has to carry a big boy, and the size dimensions of Gordon's couple are reversed... Thank you, Theo! Sundew BTW, is there really no species ID of Gordon's Cylindromyias possible? |
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| Zeegers |
Posted on 03-07-2009 20:31
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Member Location: Soest, NL Posts: 19009 Joined: 21.07.04 |
NO, but it is not auriceps (first impression is intermedia, really a guess !) Theo |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 04-07-2009 22:22
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 Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7703 Joined: 12.07.04 |
I think that it's not that Cylindromyia sp. are particularly difficult to identify per-se ... just they are hard to identify from photos due to the difficulty in seeing the important features ... specimens aren't too tricky 
Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London. |
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