Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Micropezidae, - Cnodacophora?

Posted by Ruth Ahlburg on 02-06-2020 14:40
#1

June 1, 2020, Bornholm, Denmark.
Is it possible to see?

Kindly Regard
Ruth

Posted by Ruth Ahlburg on 02-06-2020 14:46
#2

2

Posted by Ruth Ahlburg on 02-06-2020 14:47
#3

3

Posted by Darwyn Sumner on 02-06-2020 19:35
#4

It can only be Neria nigricornis: http://micropezid...my/term/26
There are only two species with an all-black frons (the other one N. longiceps has an elongated head)
N. nigricornis also has a shining thorax which picks it out from other Neria.
A good find.
Interesting to see the ovipositor shape, sort of tubular and shining black but without the sharp kink typical of N.cibaria
I would be grateful for the detailed Lat/Long for this. Better still, upload it to iNaturalist (see https://www.inatu...tanypezids)

Posted by Darwyn Sumner on 02-06-2020 19:49
#5

It is also curious to note the amber colour of the thorax behind the wings (would that be the dorsal epimeron?)
That's not present in images I have seen of the males

Posted by Ruth Ahlburg on 03-06-2020 18:03
#6

Thank you very much.
Very interesting!
Neria nigricornis is not known from Denmark. But the island Bornholm, where i photographed the fly is very close to Sweden.
The 3. antennal segment on my fly is yellow, - is i OK? Shouldn´t it be black? You also note the amber color on thorax behind the wings as something unusual.

About the photo of the ovipositor :I´ll try to upload it to iNaturalist - or send it to you.

Kindly regard
Ruth

Posted by Darwyn Sumner on 03-06-2020 19:20
#7

Yes, I think you can claim it as a first for Denmark
GBIF shows it from Sweden and Finland and I have records of it from Romania, Norway and Lithuania (oddly not Estonia despite a detailed survey)
It's not surprising it is in Denmark, it's scarcity will be the reason it has not been seen there before. That and the likelihood that this is the season when they disperse widely.
Pigmentation is an interesting topic, someone should write a book about it in Diptera. The best I can find is a note about the genetics of pigmentation in Drosophila (Wittkopp P.J., Carroll S.B. & Kopp A. 2003. Evolution in black and white: Genetic control of pigment patterns in Drosophila. Trends in Genetics 19 (9): 495–504. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9525(03)00194-X) Expression of colour can be variable, leading sometimes to the false erection of new species (e.g. Micropeza hispanica Bigot, 1886 who even back then reckoned it could be a melanic form.) I think all the antennal segments of N. nigricornis are supposed to be yellow.
Jere Kahanpää (Finland) did an online key to Micropezidae at http://www.elisan...dae/#nnigr

Posted by Ruth Ahlburg on 03-06-2020 20:22
#8

Thanks a lot again!
I´m very grateful for your help.

/Ruth

Posted by Sven Hellqvist on 03-06-2020 20:48
#9

No, as far as I can see this is not Neria nigricornis. That species has dark 3. antennal segment and a mesonotum that is shining except for greyish pollinose anterior part and lateral stripes. I can't see these characters on the the photos. Beside that, N. nigricornis can hardly be expected to find in Denmark. In Sweden it is only found in the northern part of the country, especially in the mountains.
/Sven

Posted by nielsyese on 04-06-2020 06:48
#10

I think Neria commutata might be an option, compare https://diptera.info/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=61485&highlight=Neria+commutata&pid=260928

Posted by Darwyn Sumner on 04-06-2020 08:43
#11

Not Neria nigricornis then.
GBIF distribution (from Swedish & Finnish databases) at https://www.gbif....es/4516269
Description from Andersson, H. (1989). Taxonomic notes on Fennoscandian Micropezidae (Diptera). Notulae Entomologicae, 69, 153–162.:
"First and second antennal segments yellow; third antennal segment in male blackish, in female more distinctly black with inner, posteroventral comer yellow. Arista black, basally distinctly swollen, with short pubescence that is thicker and longer in female" So that's scape yellow (not really visible in photographs), pedicel yellow and flagellum (which includes the arista) black
As illustrated in the key http://www.elisan...g_head.jpg

Edited by Darwyn Sumner on 04-06-2020 08:43

Posted by Ruth Ahlburg on 05-06-2020 09:47
#12

Ok.
Is Neia commutata an option, as suggested by Niels-Jan Dek?