Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Opomyzidae

Posted by Jan Willem on 12-08-2006 11:02
#11

Hi Nikita,

For as far as I can judge from your really great picture, these specimens are not Geomyza hackmani but Geomyza balachowskyi! This would be interesting indeed because I doubt if G. balachowskyi is already known from the Moscow region! Have you collected these specimens? If not, please do your best to collect some! I think of the "combinata-group", G. hackmani will probably be most frequent in the Moscow region.

About where to find Opomyzidae, my experience is that you can find them almost everywhere in locations with grass. However you must either be patient like Nikita explains or go with your net very low through the vegetation. In my experience in The Netherlands I hardly ever collect Opomyzidae by hand before May. However pitfall traps show that they can be found in early March till late December. I have no records from January and February but I know other people interested in Opomyzidae have seen Opomyzidae in copula in February! Some species are just hardly collected by hand, but very easily by means of pitfall traps.

Jan Willem