Posted by parnassius on 16-03-2020 19:21
#1
I photographed this
Urophora on
Cirsium eriophorum near the little village of Sestriere in Susa Valley, (Italy) at 2100 mt above sea level, on August 14th, 2018. The host plant suggests me
U. terebrans, but the wing pattern seems too much extensive to me...
Edited by parnassius on 08-04-2020 21:07
Posted by Nosferatumyia on 08-04-2020 01:36
#4
Certainly it is terebrans. I have a specimen with such a pattern in my collection, also from Alpine region. On the lower altitudes, in Ukraine, for instance, or in Caucasus, the wing pattern is much narrower, and femora mostly yellow. However, we have there another species, Urophora variabilis, which has such a wing pattern and black femora, too, and occurs on the same Cirsium plants, so maybe there is a certain selection for segregation between them, not to mix up, and in Western Europe we have the full range of variation within one species.