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Hello,

Yesterday I found this fly on a poplar.
The trees were in water because of the floods and of much of insects took refuge in the bark.

I thought of a bad development of the wings by seeing the 1st specimen, I didn't capture him, but by finding the second I said myself that it was perhaps apterous. Coincidence ?

Hipposboscidae, Nycteribiidae, Streblidae ???
I do not know an other family with individuals without wings.

bad development of the wings ? apterous ?
4 mm
Tonnay-Boutonne (17)
09-III-06

Thanks ;)

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Bonsour Bob.
It is Sphaeroceridae.
According my key (old and bad as it seems that in Russia nobody investigated specialy this family) in Sphaeroceridae apteric fly is in genuses Leptocera and Copromyza. For me, your fly looks like Leptocera.
I'm sure that Paul will give you right genus and species.
Nikita

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Thank you Nikita,

Female/male are apterous in this genus ?

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Hi Bob,
1. It seems that when you send your question Paul was occupied and somehow overlook your question. I hope that this time Paul will answer you.
2. I add my own question to Paul. I didn't find any key for Palearctic (or European, or for some European country) Sphaeroceridae. Does it exist? Can I find any key (keys) if I order World Sphaeroceridae by Roh?cek? It seems that nobody deal with this family in Russia.
Nikita

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1. I will address it later.
2a. Males (the image is of a male) and female can both be apterous.
2b. Pitkin, B.R., 1988. Lesser dung flies. Diptera: Sphaeroceridae. - Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects 10(5e): 1-175. That is the only accessible key I know to species level for Europe.

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Thanks Paul,

It's really a charming fly. Parasite of other insects ?

Regards

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Hello everybody,

I guess this might be of the same kind. April 11,2006, Naro-Fominsk, Moscow region, Russia.

This fly can be found quite regularly in various humid habitats (on moss, among rottnig leaves/plant litter/dry grass) at my location.
It's a pity I didn't manage to shoot a live specimen (too quick for me).

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Hello Bob, Nikita, Paul,

I once collected a sphaerocerid in the Netherlands that looks very much like these, which I identified as Crumomyia pedestris, with Pitkin's key.

It is relatively large for this family. Pitkin writes it occurs in grass, litter etc. (i found mine in grass tussocks), many localities in GB, and macropterous males have been found in Hungary.

I've never heard of parasitic Sphaeroceridae. Members of this family live of all kinds of decaying organic substances (dung, litter, corpses).

Louis

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Thank you for all
informations.

Regards

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Dr. Rohacek has kindly confirmed that at least the fly in my picture was a Crumomyia pedestris (Meigen, 1830) female, f. brach. He also writes, "This interestingly looking species lives in swampy habitats and its larvae usually develop in dead snail tissues. Rarely, also macropterous form can be found".

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Hello, for my specimen

Dr. Rohacek