Diptera.info - Discussion Forum: Tachinidae Macquartia tenebricosa?

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Tachinidae Macquartia tenebricosa?
blowave	#1 Posted on 25-12-2009 17:56
Member Location: LINCOLN, UK Posts: 3151 Joined: 27.06.07	Hello Only one pic of this on 24th June 2009, it was on a waterlily leaf in my pond near Lincoln UK. Closest I could find is Macquartia tenebricosa. Janet blowave attached the following image: [168.67Kb]


Zeegers	#2 Posted on 25-12-2009 22:07
Member Location: Soest, NL Posts: 19298 Joined: 21.07.04	WEll, it is something completely different. There are 300 plus species of Tachinidae in the UK, it is not that easy to ID them from one picture !~ Theo


blowave	#3 Posted on 25-12-2009 22:20
Member Location: LINCOLN, UK Posts: 3151 Joined: 27.06.07	Thanks Theo, it was worth a try though.


ChrisR	#4 Posted on 25-12-2009 22:40
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04	Zeegers wrote: There are 300 plus species of Tachinidae in the UK Actually there's about 270 at the last count ... but you were close Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


blowave	#5 Posted on 25-12-2009 22:45
Member Location: LINCOLN, UK Posts: 3151 Joined: 27.06.07	ChrisR wrote: Zeegers wrote: There are 300 plus species of Tachinidae in the UK Actually there's about 270 at the last count ... but you were close But how many have such beautiful big white front feet!


ChrisR	#6 Posted on 25-12-2009 23:53
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04	Well, all calyptrates have them in varying sizes but in males they are usually bigger - big pulvilli are 'a man-thing' in the fly world Edited by ChrisR on 25-12-2009 23:55 Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.


Jaakko	#7 Posted on 28-12-2009 20:34
Member Location: Joensuu, Finland Posts: 479 Joined: 04.08.08	Could it be the same E. succincta as in the other thread by blowave?


blowave	#8 Posted on 28-12-2009 21:31
Member Location: LINCOLN, UK Posts: 3151 Joined: 27.06.07	Jaakko wrote: Could it be the same E. succincta as in the other thread by blowave? Good thinking Jaakko! It was only just over a month from E. succincta, with some wing wear in that time. The back view of the other isn't so clear but put side by side they do look much alike.


Zeegers	#9 Posted on 28-12-2009 21:55
Member Location: Soest, NL Posts: 19298 Joined: 21.07.04	I doubt it. The apical scutellar bristles are erect, the eyes seem bare and the vertex is very broad. This suggests Lydella. But since the picture is not convincing, I'm not gonna make this suggestion. Theo


blowave	#10 Posted on 28-12-2009 22:28
Member Location: LINCOLN, UK Posts: 3151 Joined: 27.06.07	Thanks for the suggestion Theo, I can call it Lydella sp. for my own records but we have two Lydella speicies and to me Lydella stabulans looks good. Lydella grisescens is the other.


ChrisR	#11 Posted on 28-12-2009 23:46
Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04	Well, it certainly isn't L.grisescens (grisescens is quite grey-dusted) ... but I share Theo's overall doubts about Lydella as a whole (it might be correct but something doesn't look right to me) so I would say 'indet. male tachinid'. It is a salutary lesson that not everything can be named to any degree of certainty and we shouldn't try to 'force' a name onto everything Edited by ChrisR on 28-12-2009 23:47 Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London.