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unknown Drosophila similar to D. hydei
Carnifex	#1 Posted on 25-09-2017 23:32
Member Location: Vienna, Austria Posts: 1861 Joined: 23.06.15	Hi, I caught (among other species) some D. hydei in my appartement. At the university there are also kept similar flies for feeding purposes. They were bought somewhere and I wonder what species this might be. They belong for sure into the repleta-group. They have brighter red eyes and usually have an 'X' shape on the scutellum. They can be kept on normal Drosophila standard medium, like D. melanogaster. Any suggestions? Carnifex attached the following image: [293.49Kb]


Carnifex	#2 Posted on 25-09-2017 23:33
Member Location: Vienna, Austria Posts: 1861 Joined: 23.06.15	unknown species on the left side Carnifex attached the following image: [286.07Kb]


Paul Beuk	#3 Posted on 26-09-2017 07:57
Super Administrator Location: Netherlands Posts: 19225 Joined: 11.05.04	If it is a stock species, it could be any of the big repleta group, even a specific strain of the very similar hydei... Paul - - - - Paul Beuk on https://diptera.info


John Carr	#4 Posted on 26-09-2017 11:57
Member Location: Massachusetts, USA Posts: 9839 Joined: 22.10.10	See: Markow, Therese A. and Patrick M. O'Grady. 2006. Drosophila: A guide to species identification and use. Elsevier. A key to species of the repleta group likely to be found in a lab is on pages 134-137.


Carnifex	#5 Posted on 27-09-2017 15:22
Member Location: Vienna, Austria Posts: 1861 Joined: 23.06.15	Thank you Paul and John, my first approach was the key provided in the Drosophila species guide, but I could not always decide on a character described, so I followed both branches (e.g., coxa darker than rest of leg? There is some dark patterning, but not throughout the coxa - thus I don't know if this qualifies...) In the end, I came up with a list of possible candidates. It must be somewhere in the repleta-group and, if this might exclude some, they can be raised on standard Drosophila corn meal medium. I guess e.g. D. mojavensis needs a special diet? And, as Paul mentioned, what about a certain strain of D. hydei with brighter eyes and different body size? At a first glance, the male genitalia they looked similar to D. hydei...