French Guiana ← ChrisR ← Page 2

Siphosturmia sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

These are 2 Siphosturmia spp. The first looks very like a Winthemia but on closer examination is has 4 katepisternal bristles, not 2. EDIT (05/10/2010): I am a little suspicious about the second specimen – I think I might have written the wrong name down because the humeral callus has a triangle of bristles, and ...

Pseudosiphona sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

The Pseudosiphona look superficially like a Siphona but with a much shorter labrum. You should also be able to just make out the strong ventral bristle on the katepisternum. Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

Pseudochaeta sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Pseudochaeta is another of the Carcelia-type tachinids, with large eyes, but it also lacks the tuft of hairs on the hind coxa, present on Carcelia. It also has a strong row of facial-ridge bristles. EDIT (09/10/2010): I have found a second specimen virtually identical to this one from Peru. Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

Phytomyptera sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

Houghia sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Here are a few more Carcelia-like tachinids but this time belonging to the genus Houghia, which lacks the tuft of hairs on the hind coxa: Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

Hypotachina chrysophora (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

Ervia sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

Crocinosoma sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

What a difference a day makes … 2

Oct

2010

Here I just wanted to show you how Chrysoexorista spp. loose their colour almost over night. This first photos show how the Chrysoexorista looked a few hours after it had been removed from the malaise trap alcohol and the last 3 show how it looks now:

Carcelia sp. (x2) (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

The genus Carcelia seems to be fairly ubiquitous around the world. The presence of the extremely deep eyes and very narrow strip of gena (the eye is at least 11x bigger than the gena) and the presence of a tuft of small hairs on the hind coxa is very distinctive. In the following photos the ...

a genus close to Borgmeiermyia (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Det: Monty Wood, 2010

Anisia sp. (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

This genus is primarily a parasitoid of orthopterans. Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

Xanthomelanodes sp. (French Guiana)

Sep

2010

One of the commonest phasiine genera – note the strong divergent lateral scutellars. Determination by Monty Wood.

Winthemia sp. (French Guiana)

Sep

2010

Apparently Winthemia are pretty much the same the world over – 2 katepisternals with hairy parafacials. Determination by Monty Wood.

Zelia sp. (French Guiana & Costa Rica)

Sep

2010

This is a huge genus containing many superficially dissimilar species. Determination by Monty Wood.

Thelairodoria (French Guiana)

Sep

2010

Determination by Monty Wood.

Uramya (French Guiana)

Sep

2010

Uramya is one of the genera where the males have very long ‘tails’ … sadly this is a female! Determination by Monty Wood.

Neomintho macilenta (French Guiana)

Sep

2010

This genus is related to the multi-fissicorn genera, like Cryptocladocera & Cerotachina (all members of the Neominthoini but most do not have multi-fissicorn antennae) . This species is distinguished by having a completely black T5. Determination by Monty Wood.

Pennapoda & Xanthomelanodes sp. (French Guiana & Bolivia)

Sep

2010

Pennapoda & Xanthomelanodes are very commonly caught genera – being part of a group of very similar phasiine genera with shaded a costa and often with orange abdominal patches. Pennapoda closely related to the genus Trichopoda and both have leaf-like antero-dorsal bristles on the hind tibia, to a greater or lesser extent. Determination by Monty ...

Leskia sp. (French Guiana & Ecuador)

Sep

2010

Leskia is a diverse and quite common genus. Determinations by Monty Wood.

Tachinid Recording News

Identifying slim, black tachinids with grey dusting May 30, 2020
I always seem to have difficulty identifying the slim black&grey tachinids in the tribe Blondeliini and Phyllomya volvulus in photos. This mini article is a work in progress but should give some clues and rules of thumb that might be useful: Phyllomyia volvulus: orange/yellow wing bases/calyptrae; long & strong abdominal bristles, often longer than […]
Identifying the bronze-black Spring tachinids April 14, 2020
Work in progress… Spring can be an exciting time for Dipterists, when the first species emerge and we all clamour to identify our first flies. However, a few of the species can be quite tricky to identify from photos because they look superficially quite similar. That said, it can be possible to identify most […]
How to identify greenbottles in photos September 15, 2019
There are a few greenbottle tachinids and one of them (Chrysosomopsis aurata) is incredibly rare so I thought it might be worth showing how to identify it from the others. It is on the wing in late summer so could be easy to confuse for commoner species: Hairy eyes and strong erect bristles on […]
Tachinids that look like Eriothrix rufomaculata August 18, 2019
Eriothrix rufomaculata is an incredibly common fly in mid-summer, especially on any flowery meadows. The species is very easy to identify from the red abdominal side-patches, silvery face with projecting mouth edge, long costal spine, slightly shaded wings with a small petiole on the median vein. The only problem is that several other, rarer, […]
A quick guide to the new UK phasiines August 17, 2019
This year we have been lucky enough to receive records for 2 new species to the UK – Ectophasia crassipennis & Phasia aurigera. These both bear a resemblance to Phasia hemiptera and have been confused with them in the past so I thought I’d put together a few pointers on how to spot them. […]