Thread subject: Diptera.info :: New Lindneromyia for the Netherlands? (Platypezidae)

Posted by weia on 09-10-2012 11:31
#1

Last week I was able to take two pictures of a small fly (3.6 mm) running fastly on a leaf in the garden, Utrecht, Netherlands. The venation was typical and after a long search through pictures (I don't have literature, dragonflies are my thing) I came to the Platypezidae and genus Lindneromyia. Because only one of that genus is known from the Netherlands it should be L. dorsalis. But a Dutch dipterist questioned my identification and indeed it seems to be L.hungarica. Unfortunately I have only these two pictures, no head from the front for example. A difference exists in the width of the frons between the eyes, I can only show the upper part of the head and indeed this seems quite narrow. So please dipterists, have a close look so we can confirm hungaica or not.

Posted by weia on 09-10-2012 11:32
#2

Second picture:

Posted by Paul Beuk on 09-10-2012 12:33
#3

You might be right but I am not familiar with the species. Let's wait for michal tkoc (if it lasts too long, send him an PM ;)).

Posted by weia on 09-10-2012 16:06
#4

I have contacted him and he said that it looks good, coloration for example. But certainty is something else. I hope the width of the head between the eyes contains a clue.

Posted by Paul Beuk on 09-10-2012 17:13
#5

Yes, well, go out and collect a few and send them over... We should have a couple of nice days still ahead of us.

Posted by weia on 13-10-2012 17:29
#6

Chandler 2001 contains a drawing of the head and here the only structural difference for females hungarica/dorsalis can be found. I obtained the drawing and text of Chandler via a Dutch dipterist. The text says '[hungarica] "Frons narrower than an eye, at most 0.3 head width"; [dorsalis] "Frons nearly equal to maximum eye width".' The drawings suggest the difference also results in a difference on top of the head. More about this in a moment.
By the way: I never saw the fly again although more than thirty mushrooms of the right genus are peresent (Agaricus).

Posted by weia on 13-10-2012 17:50
#7

I have no picture from the frons, often those are difficult to make in real life. More likely a picture from above can be made. Is the difference than still visible?
I collected pictures of hungarica and dorsalis from the web and put them in two folders according to the coloration of the body: clearly striped versus hardly striped. Most happily the coloration of the bodies correlated completely: much grey / less grey. Also the gap between the eyes correlated: narrow grey gap between the red yes versus quite broad gap. So the folders were ungarica and dorsalis.
None of the pictures (very very few of hungarica unfortunately) showed the frons, none is giving a perfect perpendicular look on the head. I took two ones close to perpendicular, drew a line touching the front ocell and measured the width of the gap and the width of the eyes. Due to perspectivical distortion both eyes give different measurements, the mean of them is a better measure (but still affected by distortion). Now for hungarica the gap is about 0.75 of eye width, or in words: the gap at the height of the ocell is clearly narrower than eye width.
(I forgot whose pictures I've used.)

Edited by weia on 13-10-2012 17:50

Posted by weia on 13-10-2012 17:57
#8

For dorsalis the measurement gives: gap width 1.14 of mean eye width. Or in words: gap at the height of the ocell a bit wider than eye width.
Note by the way that the eye has no fluent contour, it is a bit pointed (lower picture). It seems most dorsalis females have this and hungarica hardly so.

Now look at my upper picture, closer to 0.75 or to 1.14? The gap is clearly much narrower than eye width, notwithstanding all perspectivical distortion.

Edited by weia on 13-10-2012 17:59

Posted by michal tkoc on 21-11-2012 18:45
#9

The first two pictures are for sure L. hungarica, but I am afraid, that you cannot publish, since you do not have any voucher specimens. If you want to know, why is this L. hungarica just tell me please.