Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Anthomyiidae? ID?
Posted by tim worfolk on 20-07-2009 16:49
#1
If it's Anthomyiidae, then I suspect identification may be impossible - but what the hell, you never know....
20/7/2009; Devon, England.
Thanks
Tim
Edited by tim worfolk on 21-07-2009 06:46
Posted by tim worfolk on 20-07-2009 16:49
#2
a different view
Posted by tim worfolk on 20-07-2009 16:50
#3
and finally...
Posted by KWQ on 20-07-2009 18:19
#4
Actually you DO know the miserable truth in these female Anthomyiids, most of them are not to be determined even after laborious hours under the lens of a microscope...let alone in photos...
Posted by tim worfolk on 20-07-2009 18:23
#5
So it is at least an Anthomyiid! Thanks KWQ.
Tim
Posted by Michael Ackland on 21-07-2009 09:40
#6
It is probably a female Delia species. The rather long anterodorsal seta on mid tibia, long prealar seta, slight median presutural stripe on scutum, weak median stripe on abdomen suggest Delia penicillosa Hennig, though it could be criniventris Zett though the tibia are rather dark, not pale. Was it photographed on a coastal dune, and what is the size of the fly? I have always found peniciillosa by sweeping grass on sand dunes. The male is easily identified by long setae on sternites projecting laterally.
Posted by KWQ on 21-07-2009 10:20
#7
Impressive!
D. penicillosa male is really a characteristic fly (caught at least in Turku region also from Finland, just from quite ordinary meadows). But I never dreamt that in this difficult genus also females could be determined and even from pictures!
Posted by tim worfolk on 21-07-2009 11:16
#8
Thanks for your help Michael. No not on dunes, nearest would be about five miles away! The site is farmland - old mature hedge/rough pasture with brackish marsh/fen about 100m away. I suspect this will only complicate things - just when I thought I might get a name for one of these.
Tim
Posted by Michael Ackland on 21-07-2009 12:44
#9
I find (on searching the literature) that D. penicillosa is recorded from Europe from inland and varied habitats. It's just that I have always caught it on dunes in England. It's obviously not impossible the species occurs in inland grasslands.
Whilst I would not offer a definte det for a female of Delia from a photo, this is a probable identification. Delia females require a careful comparison of pinned specimens under the microscope with known females, I.e pairs caught in cop, or material of both sexes caught in the same locality.
The host plant is not known.