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Hello!

Some days ago I posted a Rhagio strigosus. Also at night the Rhagio males come to light at the same place in our garden (Ostwestfalen, Germany). At first I thought, they were also R. strigosus. but the one on the first two pics has a red thorax and a little bit shorter forelegs than the one on the third photo. So I think, they are different species (?). Thanks for any hints!

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Hi Juergen
The first two are females, and the third one a male. The thorax colour in strigosus can vary. As for leg length, I think this is a matter of perspective - the male appears to have forelegs of different lengths, but it is just the way that it is sitting.
My feeling is that these are all strigosus.

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Hello, Tony!



Oh! With those large eyes narrow together I thought they were males.



Possibly it was also because it used its long forelegs like antennae for groping.



Thank you very much!

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It interesting you mention the groping - many flies with long forelegs do this. In Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, feeling with the antennae is common, but in flies (even those with long antennae) it is very rare.

In Rhagio the females' eyes are large, but separated by at least the width of the antenna. The males have eyes that touch or nearly touch (in latipennis they are separated by the width of an ocellus).

Your lower two pictures show the difference between the male and female abdomens very well. The female segments get progressively smaller, ending up with a very small terminal segment bearing the anal cerci. The male segments are more the same size, and end up with a complex genital apparatus. This is true for most flies, but in many families, the females have evolved specialised ovipositors, or they retract the terminal segments so they are difficult to see. And in some families the males have very small genitalia, so it is difficult to tell them from females by looking at the abdomen. (Not as difficult as Coleoptera, though! :D) It all adds up to a lifetime's study! ;)