Posted by ChrisR on 18-12-2009 14:27
#15
I think if you happen to live/collect next to some habitats that particularly favour certain species then they will appear 'common' but some tachinids seem to occur in very isolated, scattered colonies, often not closely linked with their known hosts. Many have common hosts but their distributions are still very restricted and little is known about their true requirements. :) It's all fascinating stuff but we really need to get more malaise samples from more localities to better judge distributions.
The
Opesia grandis records are very interesting - back in 2006 (when Ivan Perry discovered it 'new to Britain' ) Peter Tschorsnig wrote to me:
Opesia grandis is widespread in Europe (but - as far as known up to the present - obviously not in the typical hot Mediterranean or cold Northern countries). There are only scattered records everywhere so it must be regarded as a rare or very rare species (I never collected it by myself, Herting collected only a single specimen).
Phytomyptera minutissima is also very rare here - discovered 'new to Britain' a few years ago - currently 2 records I think :)
:)
Edited by ChrisR on 18-12-2009 14:33