Diptera.info :: Identification queries :: Diptera (adults)
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 Big-headed fly - Pipunculidae?
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| nick upton |
Posted on 22-05-2011 16:24
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Member Location: Wiltshire, UK Posts: 828 Joined: 12.03.10 |
Can anyone confirm that this little fly with a big head is a pipunculid, a new family to me, and is it possible to suggest a genus? Pipunculus? 9.5.11 c 3mm Wiltshire garden on Rose leaf. nick upton attached the following image:  [189.05Kb] Nick Upton - naturalist and photographer |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 22-05-2011 16:38
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 Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
Yes, it's a pip ... David Gibbs should be able to give you a clue as to genus but do you have other angles, perhaps showing wing venation?
Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London. |
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| nick upton |
Posted on 22-05-2011 16:45
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Member Location: Wiltshire, UK Posts: 828 Joined: 12.03.10 |
Thanks Chris, hope David sees this. Sorry, I have no more angles and this is the only well focused shot I got; it didn't hang around and I haven't seen one since.
Nick Upton - naturalist and photographer |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 22-05-2011 19:39
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Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
They're surprisingly hard to spot but I usually find them along sheltered grassy margins where they have this funny habit of flying like tiny helicopters in between the grass stems - they have incredible control.  I'd recommend going back to the same spot because I usually find them time and time again in the exact same localities. Edited by ChrisR on 22-05-2011 19:39 Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London. |
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| nick upton |
Posted on 23-05-2011 08:47
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Member Location: Wiltshire, UK Posts: 828 Joined: 12.03.10 |
Thanks for the tip, Chris, though I have been checking the Rose bush it was on since and am mostly seeing just aphids, predatory Harlequin ladybirds and and egg-laying syrphids on it since.
Nick Upton - naturalist and photographer |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 23-05-2011 09:02
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Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
I believe their hosts are cuckoo-spit bugs on grass and low-growing herbage so I would check anywhere around the bush with longish, whispy grass
Edited by ChrisR on 23-05-2011 09:02 Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London. |
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| nick upton |
Posted on 23-05-2011 09:12
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Member Location: Wiltshire, UK Posts: 828 Joined: 12.03.10 |
I just mowed the lawn.... but I have noticed some cuckoo spit on the roses recently, so that may have been the attraction. Will keep looking and will try to get some more shots if I see any more of these little guys. It's so windy now, though, that I can't focus on anything small 'til it calms down again.
Nick Upton - naturalist and photographer |
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| ChrisR |
Posted on 23-05-2011 09:25
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Super Administrator Location: Reading, England Posts: 7706 Joined: 12.07.04 |
I know that feeling - yesterday I didn't even carry my net or boxes because the wind was so strong. Of course, then I saw lots of tachinids sheltering on low foliage! 
Manager of the UK Species Inventory in the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity at the Natural History Museum, London. |
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| David Gibbs |
Posted on 23-05-2011 09:38
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 Member Location: Bristol, UK Posts: 833 Joined: 17.06.06 |
looks like Eudorylas but would not like to do further |
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| nick upton |
Posted on 23-05-2011 11:58
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Member Location: Wiltshire, UK Posts: 828 Joined: 12.03.10 |
Many thanks David. I will look out for more of these intriguing looking flies and will dig out my extension tubes for some closer views if possible. I may well have overlooked these little creatures before in search of bigger things...!
Nick Upton - naturalist and photographer |
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