Diptera.info :: Identification queries :: Diptera (adults)
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 Ephydridae vs Chloropidae
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| Sesia |
Posted on 19-10-2010 08:10
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Member Location: Richmond, BC, Canada Posts: 21 Joined: 03.10.10 |
I was quite confident that this little guy (or gal) was in fact a black ephydrid fly, but due to my other two posts i am loosing confidence in my Diptera key so i am turning once more towards the experts. I noticed there are some black chloropids in North America too. Could you confirm its identity? Location: Cawston, BC, Canada Habitat: Apple orchard surrounded by Artemisia tridentata scrubland Date: 10. VII. 2009 Image 1: http://img831.ima...eral1.jpg/ Image 2: http://img716.ima...eral2.jpg/ |
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| Tony Irwin |
Posted on 19-10-2010 20:52
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 Member Location: Norwich, England Posts: 7346 Joined: 19.11.04 |
I think I'd favour ephydrid over chloropid for this one, but couldn't say for sure without the specimen. Much of the identification from photos is based on jizz - the diagnostic characters usually aren't visible. Unfortunately whatever you do to your specimens, they don't have much jizz left! 
Tony ---------- Tony Irwin |
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| Sesia |
Posted on 19-10-2010 21:56
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Member Location: Richmond, BC, Canada Posts: 21 Joined: 03.10.10 |
Hi Tony, Thanks for your reply. I was afraid of that... Even though grape juice seems to be a rather good biodiversity assessment tool the major downside is that even after thorough cleaning those sugar particles will still damage most smalll specimens... I am willing to ship my specimens (and basically donate them) to anyone willing to give me a proper identification, even if it is just at family level. However, i could not find anyone willing to do that, so i had to resort to posting images on the internet. I can also photograph any diagnostic characters needed to confirm ID and then post those images, if that would help. By the way, what is jizz? Do you mean the setulae on the dorsal side of thorax? Marius |
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| Tony Irwin |
Posted on 19-10-2010 23:41
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Member Location: Norwich, England Posts: 7346 Joined: 19.11.04 |
I know what you mean about the grape juice - I have occasionally appeared much the same after too much "grape juice"!  Jizz is a birdwatching term, used to describe the general appearance of a bird - perhaps a combination of the way it holds itself, they way it feeds, the way its feathers lie - the "feel" of the bird. It's the same with flies - pictures of living or freshly-pinned flies show something of the character of a genus or family, so that an identification can be made without actually seeing the diagnostic features. Unfortunately specimens recovered from alcohol or other fluids often lose that feel. 
Tony ---------- Tony Irwin |
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