Posted by BUCAILLE on 16-07-2020 20:45
#1
Hello
Who could help me to identify this Thecophora,: atra, distincta or ?
Thanks a lot
Denis Bucaille : France : Méry-la-Bataille : 60420 : 16/07/2020
Altitude : 123 m - Taille : 7-8 mm approx
Réf. : 263246
Posted by Sundew on 16-07-2020 23:08
#2
If you'd checked the forum archive, you'd have found that many
Thecophora requests remained unanswered... It is a very tricky genus, and the experts agree that only females can be identified from photos by the shape of their genitalia. So your male hardly has a chance.
This said, the key
https://home.hccn...phora.html offers a small chance to approach the males, if there is a good view of the top of the thorax (two grey dust stripes flanking a middle black stripe or two black stripes in a grey field of dust). Sorry, but I cannot decide which to choose. So I followed both paths and got to
T. distincta on the one hand and
T. atra on the other, which brings us back to the starting point :|
If this is
T. distincta:
https://diptera.i...;pid=75178 or
https://diptera.i...pid=311780, it looks a bit different as to the dusting. On the other hand, the pictures of
T. atra males in
https://www.flick...219920050/ look rather similar. So you could label your picture "
T. cf.
atra", but keep in mind that a mere comparison of pictures is no certain identification at all!
Regards, Sundew
Posted by BUCAILLE on 17-07-2020 09:58
#3
Hi Sundew Thank you so much to send so many details. T.cf.atra is ok. Have a nice day.