Thread subject: Diptera.info :: UK Tachinidae Phryxe heraclei

Posted by sd on 09-01-2011 12:01
#16

ok, 2 more photos. I folded the cercus back initially to have a clear view of the surstylus, as I thought that was important for the key, so apologies for the photos differing from a text book diagram. I don't have other specimens for comparison but the surstylus looks more like the diagrams of heraclei in both Belshaw's key and Tschorsnig and Herting's key. The cercus does appear to have a ventral apex under the microscope, its flattened a little by perspective in the photo. There are certainly a few ventral hairs on the Costal vein as described for heraclei in Belshaw. So I am tentatively placing an id of heraclei ( I don't need it to be such, by the way, just looking for an accurate id :))

Thank you to Chris and others for comments.Thank you to Theo for making me go to the trouble of relaxing and preparing and further photographing the specimen. I have learnt much and hopefully this thread will be helpful in the future when others have pinned Phryxe to be identified.
Steve