Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Help with ID

Posted by Eduardo Nadal on 10-03-2017 23:37
#1

Hi,
This photo was taken in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, last February.
I was told that it is probably Mallophora genus, could anyone identify the species?
Thanks!
Eduardo

Edited by Eduardo Nadal on 10-03-2017 23:38

Posted by Eduardo Nadal on 13-03-2017 23:08
#2

Hi, any idea of the genus/species? Thanks!

Posted by Quaedfliegh on 14-03-2017 12:59
#3

To me it looks like a Mallophora sp. but lets wait for Eric.

Edited by Quaedfliegh on 14-03-2017 13:00

Posted by Eduardo Nadal on 15-03-2017 18:03
#4

Thanks Reinoud.
Let's see Eric's opiniĆ³n. Regards
Eduardo

Posted by Eric Fisher on 15-03-2017 22:39
#5

This looks like Mallophora sylveirii, common from Brazil to Argentina.

Cheers,

Eric

Posted by Eduardo Nadal on 15-03-2017 23:38
#6

Thanks Eric! Appreciate very much your help. Regards!
Eduardo

Posted by LRubio7 on 20-03-2019 15:13
#7

Hello Eric. I think this one is actually Mallophora bigoti. "Revision del genero Mallophora Macquart por sistematica alfa y taxonomia numerica (Diptera - Asilidae)" says that M. sylveirii has "anterior and middle legs with abundant yellow hair in tibiae and tarsus" as a diagnostic feature, and It's also distributed a little more to the north of the country.

Mallophora bigoti on in the other hand is widely distributed in Buenos Aires, and the diagnosis says (translated from Spanish): "Blackish to dark brown body; head with the mystax, palpus, beard and genal hair mostly white. Abdomen blackish, with short black hairs and long white hairs, the latter on the posterior border of the three basal tergites; belly with thin black hairs in the three basal sternites and central region of the fourth; the rest with thin white hairs. Paws chestnut-blackish, with short hairs and black bristles; anterior and median tibias and tarsi with long whitish blanched hairs; This type of hair also occurs in the posterior femur, in the female these are thinner; posterior tarsus of the males with thin bristles and black bristles".

What do you think?

Edited by LRubio7 on 20-03-2019 15:13

Posted by Eric Fisher on 21-03-2019 14:20
#8

Hi Eduardo,

Yes, I think you are correct, my bad: this must be bigoti! When I first saw this fly, I thought it was a particularly scruffy, somewhat off-colored Mallophora sylveirii (which seems to be the commonest species of Mallophora in Argentina)--forgetting about this species! Seems the difference in the longer hairs at the base of the abdomen are the best way to separate these two species: sylveirii has denser, yellower hair on the basal 3 tergites, while bigoti has thinner, whiter bands of hair present on just the basal 2 tergites.

Cheers, Eric.