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Can anyone confirm that this syrphid is Merodon equestris and if so, which variety? M. equestris var. equestris, or is the scutellum hair too brown? Or is it something else?

Several of these were buzzing around a high mountain ridge at over 2000m and landing on rocks to sunbask.

14.7.10 c9mm Slovenia, near Lake Bohinj, c 2300m

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Not Syrphidae. Have a look at Cephenemyia in Oestridae.

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Many thanks Stephen. Of course, the wing veins are all wrong for Syrphidae but i naively just went on the general look, which said Merodon to my untrained eyes.

Ugh..... so it's a botfly.... Should have known by the menacing buzzing sound it made. My wife said to keep away from the nasty flies! I've suffered from the human botfly in Cenrtral America before now, and had to have a large grub removed from my scalp 3 weeks later in the UK after telling the 3rd doctor I saw that I want imagining it, I really could hear something munching up there.... There was and was drilling for my brain as these charming creatures do when in the scalp.. Others had assured me it was an infected mosquito bite/ sebaceous cyst etc... The surgeon didn't believe it either til she found the grub, and asked me to come back if I ever had anything good for her to dig for.. Diptera, don't you just love them... Still gives me the shivers 20 years on..

Now I know what to check for maybe this is Cephenemyia stimulator whose grubs munch the throats of roe deer, poor things. And this hill-topping behaviour was noted in this species earlier this year. http://www.diptera.info/forum/viewthread.php?thread_id=31698

As for that post, here is the view at the very spot where I found the fly (several were about), sunning on limestone rocks. Not quite as high as I estimated (though it felt like it...). c 1850 meters on the ridge leading to the Vogel peak above Lake Bohinj, Slovenia. Stunning spot!

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Cephenemyia stimulator it is.

The genus Cephenemyia are notorious hilltoppers.


Theo

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Thanks Theo. There were a number of them buzzing around along that ridge.

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There was a great talk by Andrew Grayson Oestridae at the The Dipterists Forum Dipterist's Day in Oxford this weekend, complete with many gruesome images. The oxford museum also have a fine collection of Oestridae as a "by product" of their research into Dung Beetles

Mark

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Hi Mark


I don't understand: what is the connection between Dung Beetle (research) and Oestrids ? Can't think of any, other than 'cattle'


Theo

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They collect dung from around the world, to look for dung beetles in it. They also find pupa (and sometimes lava) of Oestridae, and often these can be reared though to adults.

Cephenemyia is Nasopharyngeal so wouldn't be found this way, but other genera may e.g. Gasterophilus

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Thanks for the explanation Mark. I'd guessed from your comment that the larvae of some genera must emerge in faeces before pupation, though not this one nor Dermatobia hominis, the human bot fly that I suffered from. No doctor would believe the life cycle I described to them, which involves hi-jacking mosquitos (usually) to vector their eggs to people (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermatobia_hominis). Parasites are so devious!

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I see.

In any case, that is then pretty much accidental: the prepupa drops from the skin or gets sneezed out through the mouth / nose, so it can hit the ground anywhere.

Of course, it might drop in a dropping


Theo

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It seems the life cycle varies a fair bit within this family regarding where they feed and how they emerge/ where they pupate, and what Mark is referring to is the "Gasterophilus style" life cycle. In G. intestinalis at least, the larvae develop in the stomach (of a horse) then emerge with the faeces when mature and pupate, maybe often in the dung itself. Hence the dung/Oestridae link. I found this: http://www.icb.usp.br/~marcelcp/Gasterophilus.htm This article also mention the hilltopping courtship behaviour of male G. nasailis with males wait/hover on hilltops and chase passing females.

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Stunning oestrid as with all other oestrids and specially stunning landscape!

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Andrade would be rejoice with your "luck". :) It is his dream being parasited with a botfly!:o

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Just tell him to sit around in a Latin American rainforest at night without much mosquito repellent on, and in time, he may get as "lucky" as I did, while watching tree frogs spawning. If he's extra lucky he might even get a cluster of them... I've heard of people getting up to 9 of these little monsters burrowing around at the same time. Not too painful in some places, if disfiguring, but a skull drilling larva is excrutiating and bag of frozen peas only gives relief for so long... :( Most lightweight non-dipterists try to remove the grubs asap, the time honoured method being to strap a thick bacon joint to the infected area and let these selective foragers head for the good stuff (no really, I know someone who did this in Brazil... Also met a rainforest guide in Peru who helped extract 7 grubs from around the bikini line of a young lady tourist who was very ditressed by her new acquisitions. His method was to smoke a cigarette, blow the smoke through a handkechief to capture some tar, smear this into the breathing hole with a matchstick, then cover the hole with sticky tape. The tar allegedly makes the larva sick, it comes up to escape, gets stuck on and can then be removed with the tape. Others just use the tape... to make them come up for air and get stuck. I had local anaesthetic surgery so the doc could talk me through what she found, a 3 week old one one that had gone nearly full term It's probably still in a bottle in alcohol as she preserved it for posterity...