Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Huge Antennae and a White Rear
Posted by Stephen on 13-11-2006 23:24
#1
Still another of my Sugar Maple sap feeders. What huge antennae! Some white hairs on the eye, and a white rear end.
The arista seem to be bare from what I can see of them. I am also having trouble seeing the wing venation through the glare.
Well I suppose I am leaning toward Tachinidae. ID help will be appreciated.
Woodlands, West Virginia USA, 11 November 2006. Not sure of size, and I got only one photo (I cropped to get the second image below).
Posted by Stephen on 13-11-2006 23:25
#2
The cropped version of the above photo.
Posted by Tony Irwin on 13-11-2006 23:53
#3
Tachinidae looks like a good bet. The abdomen displays an interesting example of developmental teratology - things went wrong in the pupa, so that the segmentation of the abdomen is disrupted - what the old entomologists might have called a
lusus naturae - a freak of nature.:o
Posted by Stephen on 14-11-2006 00:50
#4
Not a freak, just abdominally challenged. Tony, thanks for explaining the white abdomen. Flies are pretty tough, aren't they? This one seemed to be doing fine.
This summer we had an Anthrax sp. flying inside the house and I tried to coax it into a cup to take it outside. Somehow it all went wrong, the fly went into the cup and its head went onto the floor.:o
I put the fly outside anyway and it took a few steps on the leaf and then just stood there. I suppose inside the house the eyes and brain were seeing the ceiling!