Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Egle ciliata (female)
Posted by crex on 08-03-2008 19:54
#1
Location: Near Stockholm, Sweden
Date: 2008-MAR-08
Habitat: Industrial estate
This one has mouthparts that look like
Lispe's ... or ...?
Edited by crex on 09-03-2008 10:31
Posted by crex on 08-03-2008 19:55
#2
I should have taken more photos to get better ones ...
Posted by Nikita Vikhrev on 08-03-2008 20:05
#3
No, it is
Egle, Anthomyiidae
Posted by Michael Ackland on 09-03-2008 10:06
#4
Egle ciliata female. A good photo of the protruding palpi
Posted by crex on 09-03-2008 10:28
#5
I suspected it'd be the female. I saw about a dozen of these flies on the same spot. There where also some
Salticus scenicus which caught a few of them.
Thanks both! B)
Edited by crex on 09-03-2008 10:29
Posted by Michael Ackland on 11-03-2008 12:35
#6
Jumping spiders catching anthomyiids! I don't recall anyone recording that before. Why not put it into print?
Posted by crex on 11-03-2008 13:12
#7
Michael Ackland wrote:
Jumping spiders catching anthomyiids! I don't recall anyone recording that before. Why not put it into print?
I doubt that could be uncommon, but if you say so I believe you. I'm just a simple amateur photographer and I wouldn't swear that the flies taken by the jumping spiders were
Egle ciliata. The jumping spiders were on a blue steel container where the Egle species were sitting in the sun. I assumed they all were the same species. I took a few photos of the spiders with their prey, but if I known it was such a special case I would have concentrated on getting better photos, e.g. I would have gotten a better view of the preys mouthparts. Anyway, here are a couple of photos. The first shows a female prey.
Posted by crex on 11-03-2008 13:15
#8
Female prey
Posted by crex on 11-03-2008 13:15
#9
The dark one I assume is a male
Posted by Xespok on 11-03-2008 13:32
#10
I have seen Salticidae taking most families of Calyptrate flies (Muscidae, Anthomyiidae, Tachinidae, Sarcophagidae). I think this phenomenon is rather common. (One of my earlier thoughts was that the bristles on Tachinid flies is a means of protecting them from predators, this could still be true, but it will not stop jumping spiders, which regulary target the neck area.
I think these spiders jump on everything that moves and is within a certain size range.
These Calyptrate families love to take sun at flat surfaces, the ideal hunting ground for Salticid spiders.
I have also observed cannibalism, an adult taking another adult of the same species. Bizarrely I have observed Salticid spiders preying on spiders that were much larger than the predator.