Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Anthomyiidae: Lasiomma picipes

Posted by Tony T on 05-05-2008 20:16
#1

2 May 2008 NB Canada. Length: 4.3mm.
Superficially resembles Egle/Paregle from last year SEE HERE

Male

EDIT: ID corrected, many thanks to Michael Ackland.

Edited by Tony T on 12-05-2008 14:09

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 05-05-2008 20:29
#2

Anthomyiidae is right,anal vein reaching clearly in wing margin . :D
It could be an Egle or Paregle, I agree.

Posted by Xespok on 05-05-2008 22:57
#3

Palpi seem to short for Egle.

Posted by Tony T on 06-05-2008 02:55
#4

Xespok wrote:
Palpi seem to short for Egle.


Yes, I overlooked the palps; indeed very short.
Blow-up of head.

Posted by Michael Ackland on 06-05-2008 10:26
#5

Is the arrow pointing to a blunt preapical spur on the fore tibia? If so, it is a species of Delia. Species of Delia are very numerous in the Nearctic, many can only be idenntified from the male genitalia

Posted by Tony T on 06-05-2008 19:32
#6

Michael Ackland wrote:
Is the arrow pointing to a blunt preapical spur on the fore tibia? If so, it is a species of Delia.

Thanks. Yes the tibial spur does seem blunt compared to the one on the femur.

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 06-05-2008 19:44
#7

nice tip for next time. :)

Posted by Michael Ackland on 06-05-2008 22:53
#8

Just to expand on this character: some species of Delia (males only) have a blunt spur, some a pointed spur, and some practically no spur. so it's not an absolute character for male Delia, but if there is a blunt spur then it's a Delia.

Posted by Tony T on 08-05-2008 20:56
#9

Michael Ackland wrote:
Species of Delia are very numerous in the Nearctic, many can only be idenntified from the male genitalia


Thanks Michael; does this image help to narrow down the group?

Posted by Michael Ackland on 10-05-2008 17:41
#10

This proves that one should not name anthomyiids from photos!! The genitalia are a species of Lasiomma, as sternite V, long pointed distiphallus, and laterally flattened apical part of the cercal plate (keel-like) indicate.

Now I shall have to check Nearctic Lasiomma to see if the bluntish spine is there! I will come back on this

Posted by Michael Ackland on 11-05-2008 11:57
#11

The genitalia photo is very similar to Lasiomma picipes Meigen. This speies is Holarctic. There is a Nearctic species, Lasiomma nidicola Aldrich which is very similar. I post my drawings of picipes as a PDF.

The blunt seta is a basal ventral seta in the tarsus, which most anthomyiid species have. The blunt seta or spur on some Delia species is a posteroventral apical (or preapical) seta on the fore tibia.

The photo of the fly is rather grey dusted, which made me think of Delia, but picipes is darker. Perhaps it is the lighting?

You may notice the tiny hairs on the tip of the cercal plate in my drawing? These are absent in nidicola, of which I don't have a drawing.

Posted by Tony T on 11-05-2008 15:35
#12

Thank you Michael for all the effort/expertise you have put into this fly.
It is difficult to judge the exact shade of grey/black to reproduce on a photo. The fly was actually a lot blacker than in my image.
I have dorsally flattened, perhaps a little too much, the cercal plate. Are these 2 hairs at the tip of the cercal plate the ones indicative of picipes?

Posted by Michael Ackland on 12-05-2008 10:45
#13

Those are the small hairs! Amazing that these hairs seem to be constantly present, though I have no doubt that one could find a specimen in which they are absent.
It is your expertise in taking these photos is what enables me to speculate on the identity. Soon we won''t need to send the material halfway around the world.

Posted by Tony T on 12-05-2008 18:07
#14

Michael Ackland wrote:
It is your expertise in taking these photos is what enables me to speculate on the identity. Soon we won''t need to send the material halfway around the world.


Thanks Michael. Another benefit of decent photos of the entire insect and the dissected genitalia is that it saves an expert, such as you, valuable time.