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Hi my friends

I'm sure you will love this fly. It is just simply a very fine example of class.
Yesterday I made a new discovery.
I was in Serra da Estrela, and after some exploration in certain places I decided to rest near a water fountain at about 1300 m altitud. I was wandering around and saw many tachinids in those flowers seen in the habitat photo (Daucus carota mainly) and returned to my car to put some flies into the vials I forgot. Then I saw something flying in an upwards and downwards way in a very elegant flight beating very fast the wings (really we could see a panning movement) and the colour was incredible: creamy and with orange stripe colours! Quickly I swept with my net to catch it! The problem was to find the new fly, with its only 3 mm - 4 mm lenght, amongst many of other flies inside the net! But when I saw that creamy-orange mythicomyiid... it erupted an unutterable feeling.
It was a fly I was searching since 2007 when I saw the first photos taken by Javig (Javier Gállego ) that can be seen here:
http://www.dipter...ad_id=7072

Incredibly the fly was called for some reason to my blue car.




Virtually there is no (ANY) information on the flowers that this fly feeds.. and about their hosts... so it is important to establish a plan trying to get this important information. Most likely the host will reveal to be a grasshopper..but Serra da Estrela is very rich in them. It could be another host unexpected. Not an easy task.

It seems that this Platypygus is very fond of the next flower I will show you. And finally..... Platypygus to feed your dipterological fervor. ;) And I will show the place where I did find the Platypygus.


Enjoy. If anyone - after the article submited - wants to have any photo in the original size to frame it, let me know. (use my email for it)

Medium size version:















More photos later.

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another...

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the place...

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more one photo...

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Jorge, when my breath is back, I'll talk again!!!!!!!!!:o:o

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LOL I told you.

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WOW....Great Photo's as always Jorge, beautiful place too. Pity the scenery is spoiled by that crappy BLUE CAR. Is the credit crunch THAT BAD in Portugal....:P

Regards Roger

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LOOOOL Roger. Thanks for your humoristical comment as always. You must come to Portugal so we can go to the field see these beauties in my CRAP ;) car. :)

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A lovely fly indeed! The flower seems to belong to a species of Saxifraga, but this is a genus very rich in species, and I cannot identify this one.

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I can try to collect more so you can identify it properly. And thank you very much for your input, Claudia. Much appreciated!

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You should come to Shetland Jorge....we could travel around in my CRAP Car (Ford Focus)...battle through the wind and rain, and photograph Bluebottles till we are fit to drop. We could then get very drunk and slag off the world....sounds good to me...

Roger....easily pleased.

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what can we desire much more than having the honour to visit you in Shetland??? :)

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Dear Claudia,

SO far we have these Saxifraga:
http://www.naturd...;Itemid=66

It could be S. granulata?

http://www.biopix...000024.jpg

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Great photos of a beautiful fly!

The flower looks like Saxifraga granulata... but could be other species!

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You are right Jorge. I'm in love! What a wonderful little fly and such great photos. Congrats!!:)

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I do not think it is Saxifraga granulata (Meadow Saxifrage). We have lots of it in our garden. It is a distinct meadow species growing up to about 40 cm with showy flowers. The white petals without any coloured dots would match; however, they are about 1,5 cm long and have more that three veins. Your small flowers have three-veined petals.
S. granulata prefers sandy soil and does not colonize rocks. Here is a good description: "In late spring, meadow saxifrage produces clusters of large, star-shaped, white flowers with prominent yellow stamens.The loosely-branched, reddish, hairy flower stems emerge from a basal rosette. The leaves become narrower further up the stem. The plant overwinters entirely from bulbils housed in the axils of the long-stalked, kidney-shaped leaves, which form a basal rosette. This is a plant of old grassland and should be grown on moist but well-drained soil. It is suitable for naturalising in grass." The mentioned bulbils are very typical - dig out a plant and search for them. I am quite sure there will be none.

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Thank you very much to all.

I have news that will share in the next days. I have discovered some new things on this new Platypygus. At the moment, I'm organizing this information I collected. Stay tuned.
Claudia, please, see your email. ;)

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Amazing pics and fly, congratulations again :)

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What a beauty!!! Though I am a "gnat-lover", this one compete with my favorites.
Thanks for sharing this , Jorge and keep on rocking....

so long,
xylo

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Thank you a lot, Xylo. This family has some of the most fantastic animals on Earth. However, due their size is easily overlooked for many people which is a pity because these flies have a very strong aesthetic appealing and could awake a sense of respect for Nature. I always loved the detail, that's one of the reasons I love these kind of challenges. To see all details that these mythicos "breath" in each bit of them! And it will be clear in the next photos coming soon...

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Platypygus AIRLINES.

Well, I had discovered more two places where this mythicomyiidae can be found. Also I had determined three flowers where this species feeds on. I will show later other photos. Hopefully, soon all the info will be available here on their ethology, morphology and other data.

Enjoy the trip.

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The fly and the aphid. Anyone knows the genus of the Aphididae bug? Thanks!