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I found it yestarday near Wloszczowa.

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Really coming (see shoutbox comments !) :D

Probable female of Orbellia [i] hiemalis !
How many scutellar bristles ? (important to ID to the species level),

Andrzej

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Hello Lukasz,

it appears to me a fine female Eccoptomera. Most of the specimens, which I collected, were indeed collected on snow.

cheers,

Ruud

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maybe 4?

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If you put a knife on my throat I would say a E. emarginate Lw, but maybe others will have another opinion. Better to look at the specimen a bit closer

cheers,

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:D

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You agree Jorge?

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The body colouration is closer to my cat than to Eccoptomera :D

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4 what? 4 Eccoptomera`s? No more. I collected them even sometimes in small series on snow in Budapest. I think I collected about 15 specimens. But I should check in my pc upstairs, and I am too lazy right now

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I should add here, honestly, that it is more than 10 years ago!

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Fly is 8mm, 6 scutellar bristles.

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hmm, forget Eccoptomera then, they, as far as I remember have only 2 pairs. It is also pretty big then

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No. Just liked the way you begin the sentence: "If you put a knife on my throat I would say " :)
It is some Orbellia. which one, dunno.

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So it is O. hiemalis ;)
Andrzej

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there are many Orbellia around... I hope.
How these flies can support such cold temperatures? WHich are the features that enables them to face such conditions?

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Orbellia? Oef, when coming back to Holland I looked for years to Orbellia`s on snow. Never found them, while they were pretty common in Hungary. I collected some series even on the factory walls, where I worked as an engineer. At least every sunny day in winter I saw some. This was, BTW, O. hiemalis. O. cuniculorum I collected only once.

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engineer? :D in which field?

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Difficult to comments ! But it was probably shining at the moment ?

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Thanks Andrzej, Ruud and Jorge.

It is something special or common fly?
I collected it first time:)

Greetings,
Lukasz

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Here, in Poland the most common Orbellia species !

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Jorge, perhaps the subject how these flies can stand these low temperatures is off topic. Well, so be it.
I was always surprised to find Heleomyzidae such as Oldenbergiella vary active on snow. They are skilled in hovering. Also Schroederella hungarica, I collected them only on snow.
I am not a biologist, but chemist. I was always fascinated how these animals could cope with the low temperatures.
Correct me if I am wrong, but are not very often these winter active animals giving these strange copper green threads on needles a while after keeping them in a collection? Always Heleomyzidae, Scatophagidae, Sphaeroceridae, I believe as well. I wondered whether these animals have something in their blood, which reacts with the insect pins, but which may have a function as an anti-freeze??It is a big question to me.

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Hi Ruud,
Some larvae and probably imagines too have some chemical antifreezing glicerine- or glicerol-like substances which protect the body before freezing !
see plz, an article about xylomannan: http://www.popularmechanics.co.za/content/news/singlepage.asp?key=893 .

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certainly it is not off-topic. ;) Maybe there are already studies on their blood content to know it. I will go for an anti-freeze product so the blood remains fluid..

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found this interesting abstract:

"Heleomyza borealis Boh. (Diptera, Heleomyzidae) overwinters as larvae in Arctic habitats, where they may experience winter temperatures below &#8722; 15°C. The larvae freeze at c.&#8722; 7°C but in acclimation experiments 80% survived when exposed to &#8722; 60°C. Of the larvae exposed to between &#8722; 4 and &#8722; 15°C, only 3% pupated. However, when cooled to &#8722; 20°C this increased to 44%, with 4% emerging as adults. Larvae maintained at 5°C contained low levels of glycerol, sorbitol and trehalose, which did not increase with acclimation to low temperatures. However, levels of fructose increased from 6.1 &#956;g mg&#8722;1 fw in control animals to 17 &#956;g mg&#8722;1 fw when exposed to &#8722; 2°C for 1 week. Larval body water (2.2 ± 0.1 g/g dw, mean ± SD, n = 100) and lipid content (0.22 ± 0.002 g/g fw, mean ± SE) showed no significant change during acclimation to low temperatures. Larvae maintained at a constant 5°C survived for over 18 months with little loss of body mass (from 7.5 ± 1.2 to 7.0 ± 1.2 mg fw, mean ± SD, n = 20), but none pupated. Heleomyza borealis larvae appear to feed and grow until they reach a body mass of about 7.5 mg and then become dormant. They remain in this state until they experience a low temperature stimulus (< &#8722; 15°C) followed by a warm period (&#8776; 5°C). This ensures that the larvae pupate and adults emerge in early summer, allowing the maximum growing period before the following winter. Heleomyza borealis are adapted to survive long winters in a dormant larval state. They have a low metabolic rate, can conserve body water even at subzero temperatures but do not synthesize large quantities of cryoprotectants. "

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Indeed, I know this article ;)

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As far as I know glycerine or glycerine derivates do not form complexes with Cu. Looking at the peculiar colour of the threads, which look like to come out of the insect on a pin, it is copper complex. But, of course, these structures have perhaps nothing to do with the "anti freeze".
A very interesting article! It is a nice subject.

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here more info:
http://www.scienc...93bb7ca057

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great info! Thanks a lot.

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at the moment I would like to have an anti-freezing product in my blood to avoid heaters! grrr...

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isn't copper (Cu) good to protect the metals^??

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well, it rather easily forms copperoxide, so I actually doubt it. We should ask someone, who is selling insect pins. Perhaps they know.