Diptera.info

Posted by javanerkelens on 31-03-2013 17:01

Lets look at this one proper.
We start with the key:
1 No setulae present between presutural acrostichal rows; Vein C without dorsal setulae; Hindtibia without an apical pv-seta.
On photo 2 there seems to be little hairs between presutural acrostichals and on photo 3 there seems no apical pv-seta.
And we can’t see if the dorsal setulae on vein C is present…or not.

So we already have a problem at the first sentence of the key………

If we go further……if there are abundant setulae present between the presutural acrostichal rows and the hindtibia could have a short apical pv seta and there are little hairs on the dorsal site of vein C……..it could be Hylemyza partita.

If the hairs between the acrostichal hairs are mistaken for other hairs (could be) and there is indeed no apical pv-seta present (and lets forget the setulae on vein C)………..then we have to go further in the key.

2 Upper occiput beneath postculars bare…mid femur without subapical ad-seta; frons at narrowest point narrower than diameter of anterior ocellus……..go to…3
- Upper occiput beneath postculars setulose; mid femur with subapical ad-seta; frons at narrowest point as wide as or wider than diameter of anterior ocellus……go to…4

We can’t see if the upper occiput beneath the postculars is haired or not…
We can see that the midfemur has no subapical ad-seta
Frons seems to be at narrowest point narrower than diameter of anterior ocellus.

So…..that means we have to go to 3

3 Male: mid-and hind femora yellow = Hylemya nigrimana- Male: all femora balckish = Hylemya vagans

With quite some guesswork we come to Hylemya vagans.

But…….what if we are mistaken about the subapical seta (the subapical ad-seta on the midfemur can be small and sometimes not quite visible on surtain views on photos)
Then we are very mistaken with a species name, because we mist something on this photo, that seems not to be present ……..but is!!
(than maybe we have to look if it could be H.urbica or H. variata)

This is just a example to show, that trying to ID Anthomyiidae can be very tricky.
With the most common one’s , we can permit sometimes to give an ID, even when not alle characteristics are visible……and I also did some doubtful identification in the past (in the flow of getting a species name) so exuses for that.

Sometimes it seems better just to be happy with a genera….and not to gues futher on.

Is there is really a need for a species name…….collect !! (in particular male specimen)
So you can check the needed details or send me the species.