Posted by JCobain on 23-01-2023 14:27
#1
Hi everyone,
i am having some trouble identifying these Empis flies. I have many males that resemble these photos below. I am using Hackston 2019 Empis species key, where these flies come out as
woodi or
rufiventris due to the following points:
Axillary excision in wing acute, thorax with darker stripes Along the lines of the bristles (and not in between), only dark hairs, discal wing veins reach wing margin, protosternum hairy only on the sides, male eyes touching, halteres brown/yellow, thorax with only dark hairs, not shining black and side lamellae of male genitalia not pointed (ruling out
pennipes)
From this point i have been using the extension of the penis to distinguish between
woodi if its short (all photos except the last 2) and
rufiventris if its long (last 2 pictures, of terminalia only)
One issue is, that Hackston's key mentions that on the scutellum,
woodi should have only 2 bristles, if there's 4 it should be
nigripes. There are 4 bristles on scutellum (crossed apicals and marginals) But these flies don't align with the features for nigripes I think?
Is it perhaps that all of these are
rufiventris with different levels of penis extension or does anyone have a different idea on these?
many thanks for any help!!!
Jared
Edited by JCobain on 23-01-2023 14:30
Posted by JCobain on 26-01-2023 15:12
#6
I have been looking at many females collected at the same time and place today and I have the same issue, all the features lead me to
woodi in this key, all except the 4 scutellar bristles instead of what should be only 2. Can this be a variation, as the key I am using is for British species and these were collected in Eastern Europe? Does anyone have an idea? Its driving me crazy!
Or are there any good European
Empis keys around that I've not managed to find yet? :o