Diptera.info

Posted by Jordi Clavell on 14-09-2011 20:03

Could someone help me identifying these Tephritid?
Perhaps an Orellia tragopogonis?
The photo (author: Oscar Gadea) was made in La Rioja, Spain, on 17.6.2010.

Thanks

Edited by Jordi Clavell on 15-09-2011 13:14

Posted by KWQ on 27-10-2011 05:14

Hi Nosferatumyia, are you still there? I got interested in this species after you had kindly determined it from Finland in another thread and checked its characteristics from Merz (1994). A really sensational find it is from our perscpective

But I remained slightly puzzled with the falcata-determination in this thread (and some others here in Diptera Info) since I can't see here any black dots on the scutellum (compare the picture 27e in Merz) and the "pr�apikales and apikales Querband" are not connected like in the Finnish specimen and in the picture 56b in Merz.

So, is there just variation in the species or are my eyes just too bad with this level of magnification? What are the visible key characters suggesting O. falcata for example in this picture?

Posted by Nosferatumyia on 27-10-2011 09:35

see my comment on Spanish "falcata" here:

http://www.dipter...d_id=41594

And I have given my ansewer to Jari Flinck's post on FB about the Aland Is. falcata.

Edited by Nosferatumyia on 27-10-2011 09:48

Posted by KWQ on 27-10-2011 12:08

Thanks for your additional comments, Valery!

The key point from our point of view is, however, is that unlike the Spanish specimen(s), our new Finnish record from last summer seemed to be a perfectly OK.

Actually it was made near our capital Helsinki and the only previous Finnish record of the species had been made in the Aland islands (between Sweden and Finland) in the 19th century!

Thus O. falcata had been classified as a RE (regionally extinct) species in our newest Red Data book.