Posted by basti_st on 02-07-2021 08:33
#1
Dear Dipteran community,
I am a researching ecologist and - after having worked the last years mainly on litter invertebrates - I recently got into investigating also the winged part of the arthropod community. I have so far little experience with Diptera identification and thus wanted to ask you for any recommendations and things to consider specifically when preparing sampled dipterans (mainly pitfall and malaise traps) for identification? I am happy for any input that you have for me.
My work is based on tropical Pacific island, for which I found little literature on Dipteran diversity and, although Ramage (2007) published a checklist of arthropods from this region (see https://doi.org/10.5252/z2017n2a3), I assume the list is far from comprehensive for this diverse group of insects. Are you aware of any Dipteran identification key from this region (probably Indo-Malayian / Australia / Oceania) that might be useful for my planned work?
Besides the endemic but easy-to-recognise coconut fly
Scholastes lonchifer, I was able to collect two different Brachycerans (presumably), which I identified as sciarid (maybe
Bradysia?) and cecidomyiid, respectively. I attached pictures of both species to this message, and wanted to kindly ask if anyone can have a look at them and let me know if I am on the right track IDing those. I apologise for the overall poor quality of both the picture and the sample, but I am just starting to set up both the microscope and the sampling and preparation procedure, so I hope I might be able to provide better pictures, once I've also learnt what the relevant diagnostics and structures are for IDing dipterans.
thank you very much for your help. I am looking forward to learn more about dipteran identification!
All the best
Sebastian
Posted by basti_st on 02-07-2021 08:38
#2
Sorry, I just noticed that the second image did not upload. Here is the picture of the second species, presumably a cecidomyiid?
Best
Sebastian
Posted by Tony Irwin on 02-07-2021 12:34
#3
I would agree with both of your family identifications - Sciaridae and Cecidomyiidae. Taking them further, particularly as you are dealing with a remote island fauna, may be more difficult. :)
Posted by Xespok on 02-07-2021 14:39
#5
Tony Irwin wrote:
I would agree with both of your family identifications - Sciaridae and Cecidomyiidae. Taking them further, particularly as you are dealing with a remote island fauna, may be more difficult. :)
This may be an understatement :)