Diptera.info

Posted by kurt on 13-07-2010 08:59

Could this fly be P. modesta ?

Photo from Kramfors, �ngermanland, Sweden 62.53N 17.45 E 12 july 2010

Thanks for your help in advance

Regards

Kurt Holmqvist

Posted by kurt on 13-09-2010 17:52

I try with this thread once again when there are more Pallopteras just now. It look like modesta in gallery but it is not known i Sweden with that name at least. Other genur name or other close species?

In Sweden we have ambusta, anderssoni, bimaculata, flava, formosa, marginata, umbellatarum, ustulata

Kurt Holmqvist

Posted by KWQ on 13-09-2010 19:49

This surely is P. modesta (Meigen) since it has this characteristic "double spot" on the vein tp.

Which publication is your list based on? Already in an Swedish Ent. tidskrift (1990) article on Pallopteridae by Hugo Andersson there is the name P. modesta in use and P. umbellatarum (Meigen) is its synonym name (although also umbellatarum (Fabricius) is a good species).

But this really seems quite a puzzling taxonomical case because Meigen seems to have given two names for the same species...

Posted by kurt on 13-09-2010 20:42

Thanks for your help and explanation KWQ.
I get Swedish list from www.artportalen.se but it is not a published list. I think you could call it "working list".

Kurt Holmqvist

Posted by Jan Willem on 13-09-2010 22:05

You might need to look for Toxoneura modesta in the Swedish list. And this species is indeed known from Sweden. In this species the mesopleuron is haired. In Palloptera umbellatarum the mesopleuron is bare. Furthermore P. umbellatarum has a spot on the anal vein which is missing in modesta. I have seen specimens of modesta with a nearly bold mesopleuron. This is one of the reasons I have my doubts about the generic devision of Palloptera into more genera.

Edited by Jan Willem on 13-09-2010 22:06