Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Fly Astride Round Bud of Peony

Posted by Stephen on 05-08-2006 19:38
#1

This fly is on the round flower bud of a garden Peony. The Peony buds are sweet and attract ants and other insects. Some have said the ants help the dense double blossoms to open, but I don't know if that has been proved.

At any rate, this fly showed up along with some fireflies and wasps.

Another Muscid? Gray striped thorax, plumose arista?

The abdomen seems very thin, and I have a faint memory that some one here at diptera.info told me about thin abdomens as an ID characteristic... Maybe this time I will remember.

UPDATE: I did remember! That a thin abdomen can help separate Anthomyiidae from Muscidae. So maybe this is Anthomyiidae?

Thanks in advance for any ID help.

Edited by Stephen on 05-08-2006 19:44

Posted by Stephen on 05-08-2006 19:39
#2

Here's the dorsal view.

Posted by Kahis on 05-08-2006 20:58
#3

Ah, eh, uh... Could be a slender muscid or a robust anthomiid. If forced to reply with a single name I'd say anthomyiidae, perhaps near Hylemya (one of the few anthomyiid genera with usually long-plumose arista)