This is a very unusual (dexiine?) tachinid with plumose aristae, deep gena, tiny calyptrae & a straight median vein. See also pe-taxon #10 – a very similar tachinid with a brown body colour.
This is a small, black tachinid with plumose antennae, suggesting Dexiinae. These are photos of both the male and the female.
This is an amazing dexiine with a very Estheria-type face – small antennae, plumose arista, very deep gena, very chin-less profile and a very stretched-out ‘top lip’ with a second, higher pair of vibrissae. The bend in the median vein is quite acute and the part of m after the bend is very concave. There is no petiole but the bend in m has a long appendix.
These photos represent 3 specimens:
This is the first clearly different but unidentifiable taxon to be split from the peruvian sample. The deep gena and plumose arista suggest that it might be a dexiine and further to this it has a very elongate proboscis and strong median facial ridge – bearing a string similarity to the palearctic genus Prosena. However, Prosena does not exist in the neotropics so this has perhaps evolved seperately but with similar morphology.
This is my current favourite from Villu’s recent sample of tachinids from French Guiana – it looks very closely related to one I found in my last batch – see here.
This identification was made by comparing the specimen to material in the NHM in London – many thanks to Erica McAlister & Kim Goodyear for giving me access to the collections.
EDIT (21/2/2010): The genus Cordyligaster hasn’t been revised since Guimaraes wrote a key to the neotropical species and published a new species (C.townsendi) in 1971* and there appears to be a bit of synonomy in the genus. The NHM collection contains seperate sections for C.fuscipennis and C.petiolata but, as far as I can see, fuscipennis is just a synonym of petiolata now and the 2 “species” look remarkably similar in the collection.
I now have specimens from Peru that also conform to Guimaraes’ idea of C.petiolata.
* Guimaraes, J. H. 1971. Notes on the genus Cordyligaster Macquart, with the description of a new species from Brazil (Diptera, Tachinidae). Pap. avuls. Zool. 25: 99-103.
This spectacular fly looks very similar in style to European Mintho spp., but it is in fact a dexiine from the tribe Sophiini. The body length is 13mm, which makes is quite a large species, the calyptrae are very small and the palps are covered with small bristlets. It seems fairly obvious that it is attempting to mimic flying ants, with the narrow waist and shaded wing costa.
This identification was made by comparing the specimen to material in the NHM in London – many thanks to Erica McAlister & Kim Goodyear for giving me access to the collections.
A large taxon that looks quite sarcophaga-like with: pluomse antennae; bare eyes; wide parafacial; no parafacial bristles and parafrontal restricted to the top of the head; some fine hairs below parafrontals; protruding mouth edge with a few fine bristles on lower facial ridge; rhomboid humeral callus bristles; on the thorax 3 wide vittae + 2 thin vittae; 3 scutellar pairs – crossed apicals; concave post-angular vein with small appendix. (see also taxon #6)
A really interesting tachinid with a very deep gena (2.5x); bare arista; densely hairy eyes; thorax white dusted with 2 pairs of black vittae; 3 very strong scutellar bristles – apicals possibly absent; abdominal dusting all over T3-5 with a pair of black undusted triangles on each segment; calyptrae with long white hairs on the outer margin and some on the dorsal side; a pair of strong medial discals and marginals on T3-4 no marginals on T1+2.
This is another taxon with plumose antenna and a deep gena. This specimen isn’t in great condition but there is another with better wings and otherwise is absolutely identical to this specimen.
This is a more typical tachinid – a dexiine with plumose antennae and a conventionally proportioned body and colouration.
This taxon looks very similar to taxon #1 but it is subtly different. It closely resembles a box of “Zelia sp. indet.” in the NHM, London:
The fly was bought for a few francs from a butterfly collector in Cacao and it came without any data but with the assurance that it was collected locally. The specimen was badly greased and at first appeared black but after a bath in ethyl acetate the true colours were revealed. The photo doesn’t really do it justice but the species is large (about 14mm long) with a deep velvet-black ground colour with contrasting white/grey dusting.
This identification was made by comparing the specimen to material in the NHM in London – many thanks to Erica McAlister & Kim Goodyear for giving me access to the collections.
This taxon is a dexine tachinid with unusual markings on T3 and an elongate abdomen. It also has plumose antennae.
This is a crazy-looking dexiine tachinid. This subfamily usually have quite elongate legs but this taxon takes it to extremes with hind legs that are actually twice as long as the rest of the body. The photo doesn’t show this very well but I decided to fold the legs up to protect them on this specimen.
UPDATE (30/1/2010): After looking through the NHM collections I have concluded that this is Cholomyia inaequipes, or a very closely related species. Here are some photos of some NHM specimens:
Cholomyia inaequipes
Cholomyia inaequipes
