Diptera.info

Posted by Juergen Peters on 21-05-2008 20:00

Hello!

This one from yesterday afternoon at the beech forest (northwest Germany) was at least at large as a Tachina fera. The photos in the gallery lead me to Blepharipa pratensis? Correct?

Posted by ChrisR on 21-05-2008 20:18

A late Ernestia puparum perhaps? Hairy eyes & projecting mouth-edge would suggest it isn't Blepharipa :)

Posted by Juergen Peters on 21-05-2008 20:48

Hello, Chris!

Chris Raper wrote:
A late Ernestia puparum perhaps? Hairy eyes & projecting mouth-edge would suggest it isn't Blepharipa :)

Thank you! When seeing the fly, I thought of Ernestia rudis or the like first. But when looking through the gallery, B. pratensis seemed to fit better...

Posted by ChrisR on 21-05-2008 21:34

It's hard for me to say exactly - but Ernestia would be my best guess ... whether it is puparum or rudis is difficult to say but Theo might be able to use his experience to pick out details that I can't see :)

Posted by Zeegers on 23-05-2008 08:16

First impressions are often very accurate:

A male rudis it is.

Puparum has an abdomen like a pedestrians crossing 'zebra'. Moreover, puparum is restricted to april, rudis is second half of may - june.

Theo

Posted by ChrisR on 23-05-2008 09:45

At least I got the genus right ;) I have never seen either rudis or puparum in the wild here :( How rare are these flies in northern Europe Theo?

Maybe we could have these photos for the Gallery too? :D

Edited by ChrisR on 23-05-2008 09:53

Posted by Zeegers on 23-05-2008 13:33

rudis is quite common here, no problem.
Males are territorial on leaves of Fagus, but only at borders of Pine forests. That makes sense, since its host Panolis flammea is restricted to pine.

Theo

Posted by ChrisR on 23-05-2008 13:36

That explains why I don't see them here then - got to go a long way to find much pine around me :)

Posted by Juergen Peters on 23-05-2008 14:11

#10

Hello, Theo!

Zeegers wrote:
First impressions are often very accurate:

A male rudis it is.

Many thanks! It it not the first time I wondered, why Ernestia rudis is rather common here, because we don't have many pines - but some can always be found between the 80% beeches, 10% oaks, larches and some other trees. Especially at the location, where I found this fly, there was a small pine plantation (only about 50x50 m) near.