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Medium sized (6mm) doli on northern ?land (Sweden).

Not sure what the prey is (worm or larva?).



Larger view here:
http://farm2.stat...54e3_b.jpg

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Lovely shot.:)

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Thanks Susan!

Not the best picture to make an ID from though I guess. Here is another one from a different angle. I realize this might be a female and that males are usually easier to id...

//John

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1. Nice photo.
2. Any idea about prey?
3. I think it is Dolichopus nigricornis/migrans
4. My photo of Dolichopus nigricornis attached. Anybody mind this ID?
5. What is correct Dolichopus nigricornis or D.discifer?
Nikita

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Last shot even more lovely. Unfortunately, female of Dolichopus.

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Still I have questions:
2.?
4.?
5.?
:o

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Thanks Igor, that't what I suspected.

Nikita, I think your male looks a bit different from mine http://www.dipter...ad_id=7471

Then again I'm not entirely sure my male is the same species as the female in this post.

Yes, I'm curious about the prey too!

John

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Dolichopus discifer Stannius, 1831: Isis (Oken) 1831: 57 // syn. of Dolichopus nigricornis Meigen, 1824 (Loew, 1869: Beschr.eur. Dipt. 1; Becker, 1917: N.Acta Acad.leop., Halle 102: 148-149); rest. Collin, 1940: Ent.monthly Mag. 76 [= (4)1]: 263 ** Type locality: Germany. Palaearctic: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, England, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland, Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Russia, Kazakhstan; Nearctic: Canada, USA *
=Dolichopus nigricornis Becker, 1917: N.Acta Acad.leop., Halle, 102: 148; Parent, 1925: Enc.ent., Ser.B, II, Dipt. 2: 55, 56, et auctt. (nec Meigen, 1824) ** Type locality: not given. * Dolichopus discifer Stannius, 1831.

This is a citation from Collin (1940):
nigricornis Mg. (1824) and discifer Stann. (1831).
This synonymy was accepted by Loew in 1869 after Haliday had reported it as a result of an examination of Meigen's supposed type in Paris. Meigen however attributed the species to Megerle, from whom he had seen an Austrian female only, and this female be considered the type of the species. If the specimen mentioned by Loew in 1859 as present in the Vienna Museum is Megerle's female, the name nigricornis Mg. must be used for Hercostomus gracilis Stann. In the meantime the suggested synonymy of discifer Stann. with nigricornis Mg. should not be accepted.

According to Meuffels (1999):
Dolichopus nigricornis Meigen, 1824: Syst.Beschr. 4: 82 // syn. of Hercostomus gracilis (Stannius, 1831) (Loew, 1859: Progr.Realsch.Meseritz 1859: 6) * ?Hercostomus (unrecognized) (Collin, 1940: Ent.monthly Mag. 76 [= ser.4, vol. 1]: 263).

As I know, nobody more discussed these names. So, I vote for discifer.

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1. Thank you Igor/
2. John, may be put image in larvae-pupa forum with question - "Is it Diptera larva?"
Nikita

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I think that the prey is a chironomid larvae. Several Dolichopus apparently prey on them
At the last ICD6 conference in Fukuoka Pogonin et al showed some astounding video footage of various doli's feeding on them in Oksky NR in European Russia:- got a standing ovation for it too!
cheers
Adrian

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When in doubt, check the original reference: Meigen described nigricornis from both sexes but did not mention anything about a modified tarsus. Neither does Meigen's colour plate for that species show it, but the illustration for 'Dolichopus patellatus' (listed as synonym for discifer by Igor) does show it. That leads me to believe that nigricornis should not be a synonym of discifer.