---

Cosatal Wetlands, Lima, Perú
Salt pool > 120 g/L

ID please
Ephydra gracilis?

thx

---

2

---

3

---

I think it is an Ephydra but I do not know how to identify South American species.

---

Thanks John |t

---

This does look like a species of Ephydra - which is puzzling, as this genus is not found in Peru! Your best course of action is to download the paper by Mathis and Marinoni (see https://biotaxa.o...xa.4116.1.).
This contains a key to all the Neotropical Ephydrini, so you should be able to get this to genus, if not species. At least it is a male, so we can check whether it has been described elsewhere.

---

I want to work my master's degree with Ephydridae in the coastal wetlands of my country, in the department of Lima, but I am a novice in this (I have always worked with aquatic larvae). For this I am collecting pupae and then waiting for them to emerge and identify them. Maybe I should contact Mathis to see if he can help me, but I'll do it when I have more specimens, I'm just starting. I have used the key you mention and I get to E. gracilis, and the truth is very similar (including the larva and pupa that I have also been able to collect, attached photo).

Thank you very much for your help

---

The genitalia of gracilis are quite distinctive. If you remove the end of the male abdomen and clear it in KOH, you should be able to match it to the figures. Good luck with the project!