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28 August 2007, New Brunswick, Canada. Length: 9mm
Striped thorax = Sarcophagidae ?

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red traffic eyes. >> Sarcophagidae. :)

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That works even in the New World !
Good to see


Theo

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Thanks Jorge and Theo. Spent the entire morning and early pm "in the field" and managed only to get photos of this fly and a syrphid; very few flies active despite great weather - tabanids the most common.

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Accept traffic lights I see a clearly swollen subscutellum.

In the Neotropics exists a Sarcophagide (Lepidodexia woodorum) with a moderate subscutellum. But this not Lepidodexia.

So this is a picture of a Tachinide. I guess it is a Dexine like Billaea. But I have little experience with nearctic Tachinids.

Liekele

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:| if it is really a Tachinidae, this clearly cheated very well. another pitfall. :|
great similarity.. this shows that Tachinidae and Sarcophagidae must be in the same superfamily. :)
So, red traffic eyes with this appearance of body.. can meaning to be NOT a Sarcophagidae!
Even Sarcophagidae like some Calliphoridae can have subscutellum! To complicate more the things. :S

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Interesting observation by Liekele.
He might be correct, however, it's difficult to see.
So is it possible to check this specimen on the postscutellum, to be really sure ?

Theo

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Fortunately I collected the specimen. It is confusing: red eyes, racing stripes on thorax, plumose antennae, decent-sized postscutellum, red bum.

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The postscutellum is below the scutellum, so we can't see it unfortunately in the last pic.
But the lateral headshot settles the matter instantly: it's 100 % Dexiini (and therefore Tachinidae) ans thus Liekele is completey right.
Which illustrate that my rule 'New World is different from Old World' dominates over 'Red eyes imply Sarcophagidae'.


Excellent observation, Liekele


Theo

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So please change the title in 'Tachinidae !'


Theo

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I'm totally confused. What is the bulge, beneath the scutellum and above the whitish haltere knob, clearly seen in the last pic?:(

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Hello,



You too?

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see here

I THINK this is the correct... not sure, though.


1 - subscutellum
2 - postscutellum
3 - scutellum
4 - halter (vestigial wing) :)



Please, correct me if I got it wrong! :)

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ANOTHER SCHEME...

If you disagree with something, let me know! :)

1 - anepisternum 2 - anterior spiracle 3 - scutum 4 - katepisternum
5 - meron 6 - sternites I, II, III, IV (in final of IV terminalia... and genitalia) 7 - tergites I, II, III, IV 8 - anepimeron 9 - proepimeron ?
10 - posterior spiracle

the green zone without number can be the LATEROTERGITE?
more..?

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Wow, that's quite a paint job. All I wondered about was the bit beneath the scutellum:p:p:p

Your effort may be wasted here. I could send you large images of the head, of the thorax, and of the abdomen. These could be coloured and labelled and placed in the Glossary, under the Category Morphology-head, Morphology-thorax, Morphology-Abdomen; with subheadings indicating the fly is a Tachinid.
I will need your e-mail address to send them.
What do you think?

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I still have no sure about the legend. ;)

I think the knowledge has much more power when information is shared! Of course, without maleficent ends.

It was a pleasure to do the paintings. IT was really a pleasure, believe. ;) Yes, I agree entirely with your idea. My email is from gmail account and user is jorgemotalmeida ;) You can see my email in EMAIL button -- http://www.dipter...lookup=320 . :)

OT: It was a pleasure to photograph today this fabulous animal:
http://www.flickr...811&size=l ;)

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Go Jorge and Tony T! :D This would be a real asset to the website.

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I misinterpreted the picture, only looked at the magnification and therefore missed the context of the larger picture.

2 is indeed the postscutellum.

Which settles its ID as Tachinidae - Dexiini, as far as there was some doubts left.


Theo

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thanks to all. :) I assume that my legend has no errors. :)

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That's a pretty good way to illustrate the various body parts! Well done. B) I'll have to do something similar for our little project.

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...but not without errors :) Only the abdominal tergites are visible in your photo - in this case the tergites cover also most of the ventral side of the abdomen. And I think area 9 isn't really the propleuron, which is between the anterior spiracle and the neck.

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hmm... ok. I must correct the tergites zones. :) so what is the area 9? :)

the rest is ok? :)

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kahis, the photo is not mine, but from Tony :)

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kahis, I was seeing again the photo, and I must disagree a little with you. We can see a little of sternites as well because the fly is slightly tilted! What do you think?
Concerning area 9 you are right, but then what is that region? Please let us know! :) Thank you.

Any more opinions will be wellcome. :)

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Jorge

Kahis is right. In tachinids the tergites wrap right around and the sternites are small or you see very little of them, even with a ventral view. I think you were fooled by the change in the pattern which must be caused by different dusting (different sized scales giving different reflections maybe ?)

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yes, Susan. You must be quite right! Perhaps the different sized scales fooled me.. or another. ;)

So, there are just 2 errors. Not bad. ;) Let's go. I'm waiting for bigger photos of these fly! :)

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Susan wrote


Ventro-lateral view showing the "wrap-around" tergites.
(Jorge: larger photos to you later today - hopefully)

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wow! Tony!! what a beauty!!! :| woww!!! speechless. :|