Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Bradysia sp. (Sciaridae) from flower pots

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:38
#1

Wing length ca. 2.5 mm (female) or 2 mm (male). Y (r-m) apparently with bristles. Thoracal bristlies dark, haltere yellowish with darkened knob. Antennae black. Legs yellowish with tibiae and tarsi somewhat darker. Thorax black and weakly shining. Tarsal claws simple (without indentations). To get an overall impression of the material, I used the Dr.rer.nat. dissertation by Frank Menzel (1999) that's available on-line and had a quick look on the key by Gerbachevskaya.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:39
#2

Wing, female.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:39
#3

Several views of male palpi.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:40
#4

The apex of tibia I, male.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:41
#5

Apices of all three tibiae, male.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:42
#6

The fourth segment of male's antenna.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:44
#7

Augenbr?cke, male.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 13:47
#8

Hypandrium, ventral view. The left picture is 3 frames made with Canon A640 stacked in CombineZ, the drawing on the right is of another specimen with genitalia deformed a bit.

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 07-02-2008 17:52
#9

Minor corrections since I already know the species name (but let's wait for Kai Heller, maybe he will show up): thoracal bristles are light-coloured, thorax is rather dark-brown than black, X is without bristles (not with bristles like in the picture of the wing, I paid more attention to the form and position of veins), the rest agrees well.

Posted by kaiheller on 07-02-2008 22:17
#10

Black,

your species from flower pots is clearly Bradyia tilicola LOEW. It is by far the most common species, that can be found indoors. The former name, which was still used by Menzel (1999) and Gerbatchewskaya, was Bradysia amoena. But there are many other synonyms, as this species is the most often recorded due to ist synanthropic life habit.

The wing venation in Sciaridae was in former times mostly used for the identification, thus determination was quite difficult. But just one quick look at the photo of the hypopygium revealed the identity. In fact, Sciaridae are easily to recognize by the male genitalia. There are more than 600 species known from Europe and still many unknown ones. There are only very few specialists. So anyone, who is interested to know more about this fascinating family is invited to contact me. Greetings, Kai

Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 08-02-2008 05:18
#11

Many thanks Kai (and for the invitation, too)

Posted by Nikita Vikhrev on 08-02-2008 09:12
#12

Good job, Dima!

Posted by Xespok on 08-02-2008 09:27
#13

Kai,

Should females be discarded, or can they also be identified?