ChrisR

This is the third in my recent series of acrocerids – a smaller taxon with shaded wings – 6mm body length hunched over. Jorge Almeida says it looks like an Philopota sp.

EDIT (20/2/2010): Jessica Gillung (Sao Paulo, Brazil) has been in touch with me to say that she is revising the genus Philopota and this photo looks like it might show a new species. With this in mind the 2 specimens of this genus that I have retrieved so far have been sent to her for inclusion in her revision. I’d like to thank Jessica for getting in touch and offering to work on the specimens.

EDIT (5/3/2010): Both specimens have arrived in Sao Paulo and Jessica has confirmed that they are a male and a female so she can now describe both sexes – what luck!

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I originally thought that this fly was from the family Nemestrinidae but Eric Fisher has kindly corrected my and it is in fact an acrocerid – possibly of the genus Lasia. The body length is about 14mm and, as you can see, the proboscis is even longer than that! Lasia spp. are parasitoids of mygalomorph (“bird-eating” or “tarantula”) spiders.

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Not a tachinid this time but a really lovely fly, which I think is from the family Acroceridae. The body length is about 11mm. Apparently all acrocerid larvae are parasitoids of spiders. Eric Fisher thinks it is possibly related to the nearctic genus Ocnaea.

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