Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Fly with long legs, spotted wings in forest => Sylvicola sp.

Posted by AdrianBothe on 24-02-2022 13:48
#1

Dear all,
on 29.12.2020 I found this fly on a Fagus sylvatica tree during the night in a forest in Berlin (Germany). Which species is this?
Best, Adrian

Edited by AdrianBothe on 24-02-2022 16:21

Posted by Roger Thomason on 24-02-2022 14:58
#2

Sylvicola sp. Anisopodidae

Posted by AdrianBothe on 24-02-2022 17:29
#3

Thank you very much!
I have had a look into the key from this source https://www.zobod...1-0217.pdf.
Since M1/M2 veins do not converge in a single point, I conclude sugenus Sylvicola.
Then I am a bit unsure, since I would say there is a yellowish spot in the center of r1 cell, however my fly has dark spots central on veins M1 and M2 don't seem to be present in S. (S.) limpidus, therefore I go to point (6). Perhaps the yellow spots were brownish in the samples that the key was based upon. But it definitely makes sense to choose "many distinct and indistinct dark and light spots".
Next, I exclude S. (S.) suzukii, since the halteres have yellowish knobs on my picture, and the wings aren't dark enough. -> (7)
Remaining are S. (S.) zetterstedi, cinctus, fenestralis, japonicus, matsumurai, of which the latter two don't occur in Germany. Also, the apical spot has quite clear borders and seems triangular, which fits. -> (8)
S. (S.) zetterstedi has a different shape of the apical dark patch, therefore I'm left with S. (S.) cinctus / fenestralis. And that's it, I gues..

Posted by libor on 24-02-2022 21:56
#4

The identifiction of Sylvicola according to wing pattern is almost impossible. Limpidus is a species of very high mountain, so you can exclude it. For all other three species, cinctus/fenestralis/zetterstedti is the only way - using diagnostics on genitalia.
Libor