Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Long-legged Tachinidae, Senostoma sp? Ecuador
Posted by Isidro on 22-10-2023 08:03
#1
Landed on a vertical trunk in a rivershore park in Cuenca, Andes of Ecuador. Remains very quiet and let approach it very closely.
Body lenght about 12-14 mm
Posted by eklans on 22-10-2023 08:35
#2
It looks like a female
Dinera.
Posted by Isidro on 22-10-2023 08:49
#3
Many thanks! The only observation I saw for South America is
Dinera ferina for Colombia. It could be this species?
Posted by eklans on 22-10-2023 09:34
#4
I'm not sure, if it is a Dinera! But if it is, it's not D. ferina as the head is as long as high. In Europe this would be carinifrons (if there are only 3 dcs postsutural and tergite 2 is not hollowed to it's posterior end - both characters can hardly be seen). Sorry for the countless "ifs".
Posted by Isidro on 22-10-2023 09:49
#5
Thanks Eric,would be interesting to know if Dinera carinifrons was introduced in Neotropics, because then it could be a very good possibility.
Posted by John Carr on 22-10-2023 16:16
#6
I think it is tribe Dexiini. I don't know genus. Many genera are recorded from the Neotropical region.
Dinera is not on the list.
Posted by Isidro on 22-10-2023 18:18
#7
Thanks, I hope that at least genus can be identified. Zeegers knows about Tachinidae worldwide, is he still active in this site?
Posted by John Carr on 22-10-2023 20:45
#8
Anywhere except South America there is a generic revision published within the past 60 years that will in combination with recent catalogues and checklists put most specimens into a genus. Nobody has looked at the South American fauna as a whole since Townsend in the 1930s and his classification is inadequate by modern standards. Townsend did not like to put more than one species in a genus and did not understand phylogenetic relationships. He may end up beating Robineau-Desvoidy in the number of junior synonyms proposed.
Another problem is, much literature is hard to find. The older volumes of Revista Brasileira de Entomologia are not online. Townsend's Manual of Myiology is a 12 volume set of books that I do not have, and would be of limited value with a specimen under a microscope.
It is hard to key this. A common character used in tribe Dexiini is what would be the nose of a human. It might be small or large, broad or narrow. The face is in shadow here. Then there may or may not be hairs on the proepisternum.
Of the genera in my region,
Billaea looks a better match than
Dinera. There are several species known from South America, reviewed by
Guimarães, J.H. 1977. A revision of the genus
Paratheresia Townsend (Diptera: Tachinidae, Theresiini). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 30: 267–288.
https://www.revis...iew/211105
If you come across a member of Tachinini (quite common in the Andes) you have a better chance.
Posted by Isidro on 22-10-2023 21:22
#9
Thanks for the very complete info. I hardly could imagine it as a Billaea!
Posted by John Carr on 23-10-2023 00:12
#10
The posture, head down on a tree trunk, is typical of
Billaea.
Posted by Isidro on 10-12-2023 16:27
#11
In this article https://cincae.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/GUIA-DE-INSECTOS-PLAGAS-DE-LA-CANA-DE-AZUCAR.pdf is mentioned that
Billaea claripalpis is reared and released in sugar cane crops in Ecuador for biological control of crop pests. Could mine be that species? For sure the illustrated one in the link doesn't like at all as the individual in my photos...
Posted by John Carr on 10-12-2023 20:24
#12
I think your fly is not the same species as seen in figure 4. The stripe patterns are too different.