Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Eristalis pertinax?

Posted by nick upton on 20-03-2010 20:53
#1
This male Eristalis seems to have pale front feet. Does that make it pertinax rather than tenax?

Photographed 11.6.09 in Wiltshire, southwest UK


NickU

Posted by Andre on 22-03-2010 21:14
#2
This is tenax. In pertinax the front and middle tarsae usually are really yellow.

Posted by nick upton on 22-03-2010 22:44
#3
OK many thanks Andre. After looking at more photos and reading more descriptions I had also begun to think it was E. tenax. The feet really are always yellower in pertinax. This male E.tenax has less orange on the abdomen than others I've photographed but I now realise Eristalis colours vary a lot within a species and read it can be influenced by temperature on emergence, so foot colour, hair tufts on the head etc are the only reliable characters to go on.

Nick

Nck