Posted by Paleoinsect on 19-09-2011 00:28
#1
Greetings!
I'm collecting insects at Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (Vancouver, Washington, USA) and collected several specimens of the attached fly in a light trap on September 9th of this year. Using the Manual of Nearctic Diptera (V1), I've tentatively identified it as being from the dolichopodid genus
Diaphora, but I'm not sure if that is correct. If it is correct, can anyone help me with a possible species-level identification?
The picture was taken with a digital camera held up to my stereomicroscope, so I'm sorry it isn't a better picture, particularly with regard to the colors. The sides of the body, and the coxae, are silvery-gray, as seen in the picture. The abdomen and the legs, however, are a metallic green, which may not be apparent, and the dorsal thorax looks more bronze-ish. The length of the body is approximately 3mm.
Can anyone help me? Most of the keys that I've tried (including the MND and Cole's "Flies of Western North America" don't have much in the way of imagery, so my attempts at confirming the identification with an image is difficult.
Thanks!
Martin
Edited by Paleoinsect on 19-09-2011 18:09
Posted by Igor Grichanov on 19-09-2011 07:44
#3
It is a typical Hydrophorinae. Please use keys in:
Hurley, R.L. 1985. Dolichopodidae: Hydrophorinae. Flies Nearctic Reg., 6 (6/1): 1-112.
Hurley, R.L. 1995. Dolichopodidae: Hydrophorinae. Flies Nearctic Reg., 6 (6/2): 113-224.
Posted by Paleoinsect on 19-09-2011 18:10
#4
Don't know where I went wrong in the key, but thanks nonetheless! I'll look up the Hurley pieces.