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Well, here is the other red-abdomened Tachinid taken by my friend Francisco Rodriguez in Almeria, SE Spain on the 15th April 2011. In bushes in the mountains.

Seeing now the real dorsal view, even myself can see it isn't Clairvilia :D and see the chances of Eriotrix or Zeuxia. But surely there are more options. Leave it to the experts ;)

Thanks in advance for any help!

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Another view.

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Hmm, I can only say Zeuxia or Eriothrix :)

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Thanks, Chris :) Let's hope we can get the genus for sure!

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The arista is plumose, so it can't be Eriothrix.

Zeuxia zernyi is very similar to Eriothrix in appearence.


Theo

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Thanks Theo! :)

What do you need to confirm Zeuxia? Or even Z. zernyi? He told be he has about 10 pictures of this fly :)

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Need to have a look in my collection and I have the flue at the moment.


Theo

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Get well soon Theo - and don't sneeze on the tachinids!! ;)

I have some Zeuxia zernyi and they do look *very* like these photographs - much cleaner colours - darker black and brighter orange than most Eriothrix that I have seen. But, that said, I wouldn't like to say that this is Z.zernyi because there might be other species that look very similar.

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Awfully sorry about you being sick. Theo :( Forget about our Tachinids and get well :)

Thanks, Chris! I have a total mental caos with all these similar genus and species. The worst part is some similar species belong to different genera and look more similar than species belonging to the same genus. Madness :o :o :o For the moment, they are a mystery to me :D

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Yes, tachinids make a great argument for collecting specimens! ;) Wasp parasitoids are similarly very biodiverse and show lots of very similar morphology.

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This might help a bit. Cannot be sure if it is exactly the same specimen, but it was one of those flies on the infamous plant :D It landed on Francisco's hand. I think it is al least the same species. Way too similar. And I can see something that I saw in the previous fly but couldn't see properly due to the lighting: It doesn't have a petiole!!

Do all Zeuxia spp. have a petiole? Of all the species found in Spain:

- aberrans
- antoniae
- cinerea
- sicardi
- subapennina
- zernyi

I know sicardi and cinerea have a petiole. If it is a common feature of Zeuxia, then it has to be something else. But I have no idea if it is or not :(

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And the lateral view.

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this is sicardi, the other option


sicardi has marginals on syntergite 1&2, zernyi does not.

I am recovering, thank you


Theo

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Thanks a bunch, Theo!! :)

But I am now even more confused than I was :o :o All pictures of Zeuxia sicardi that I have found IDed in the forum had a neat long petiole. This one hasn't, and I ruled it out. Is there such interindividual variation? If it is so, I'd better give up Tachinids :( :(

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OK, I have checked my Z.sicardi (x3) and zernyi (x2):

- sicardi: long petiole, excavation does not reach the margin of T1+1 (T1+2 is a long segment), T1+2 has long marginals; T3 no median discals.

- zernyi: tiny petiole (r4+5 & median meet at the wing margin); excavation reaches the margin of T1+2 (T1+2 is a short segment); T1+2 has no median marginals; T3 has median discals.

On the "finger" photos and the first photo I think that: T1+2 has no marginals: there is a short/no petiole; & has median discals on T3 so it should be zernyi :)

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Chris, thank you soooo much for checking! I really like your little key! ;)

Let's wait for Theo's view on this. If he agrees, sorry guys, but I am not going to give up Tachinids :D :D :D

But Theo, please, recover yourself before dealing with this. Health is much more important |t

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In the last pic, I thought I clearly saw marginal seta on syntergite 1&2. Am I mistaking ? Are we sure we are looking at one specimen ??

Another point of concern is the lateral inclined frontal seta.
I have not seen that in zernyi, but maybe I have only males in my collection.

Chris, could you check for this please ?


Theo

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The top two images are a different specimen than the bottom two. The patterns of pollen on the specimens are different and the dust patterns on the mesonotum are also somewhat different.

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Certainly - I have 2 zernyi (1 male and 1 female) from the French Pyrenees. Sadly the females frontal bristles are all mashed up and disoriented, but the male's are perfect and it has a pair of very strong lateroclinate bristles anterior to the inner verticals and anterolateral to the occelli ... I guess this would be an outer-orbital bristle.

I have only a few male sicardi but none have the lateroclinate bristles.

This is assuming that my Z.zernyi are correctly identified but I worked on all of my Zeuxia earlier in the year and spent many hours checking them and was quite happy in the end with the IDs. I will try to take some photos of them if I can today :)

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Here is my male "Z.zernyi" - head first:

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... and a lateral shot. The most anterior pair of median bristles are the median discals on T3, not marginals on T1+2:

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First of all, thanks to you all for your replies! :)



Yes, Paul, I thought it had to be a different specimen. But being in the same plant at the same time, although not impossible, I think the chances of having two different species of Zeuxia on it are pretty low. And the lighting on the second specimen is so much better for ID, that I wanted to give it a try.

Chris, superb pictures! :) Thanks for posting them! Let's wait for Theo's opinion seeing this. |t

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As it seems that nothing definite can be said of this fly, what would be the best way to name it? Zeuxia sp.? Zeuxia cf. sicardi? Zeuxia cf. zernyi? Thanks! :)

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Zeuxia cf. pilucaensis....

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Never heard of it :o :o :D I cannot find it in the keys... :D :D :D

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Well, on the balance I'd say that it is Zeuxia zernyi but Theo is the expert and has probably seen a lot more than I have :)

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Chris, I cannot thank you enough for all your input in this and taking the time to check your specimens and even photographing them :) I agree it looks like zernyi but as you said, Theo is the one that has more experience with this very difficult group of Tachinids. I would feel more confortable knowing his opinion too. And certainly your own opinion is much more reliable than mine!! :D :D