EXORISTINAE ← ChrisR

3x Mystacella sp. (Peru)

Jan

2011

These photos illustrate 3 species of Mystacella – a tachinid that, like Chrysoexorista, is a beautiful metallic green (sometimes across the whole body, but at the very least on the thorax) in life but this fades to golden brown when dead. Mystacella have the vibrissae emerging quite high above the mouth edge and a very ...

Pelecotheca s.g. Cryptocladocera (male) (Surinam)

Oct

2010

The Surinamese batch of flies from Menno yielded quite a lot of male Cryptocladocera – here are just 2.

An amazing series of photo by Paul Bertner from the forests of Guyana

Oct

2010

Paul is a wildlife photographer and adventurer who contacted me a few months ago for tips on how to do serious entomology in the tropics for a trip he was planning. Paul is now trekking through Guyana with his backpack, cameras and laptop, taking photos of the wildlife he sees on his travels. He also reports ...

Stacking #2 2

Oct

2010

Here is Dave’s latest version of the Pelecotheca (Cryptocladocera) male – looking even better. To see Dave’s other photos click here.

Atactosturmia/Leschenaultia/Lespesia sp. ??? (Bolivia)

Oct

2010

This specimen is proving to be a real problem – it keys to Atactosturmia because it has 3 rows of small hairs outside the vibrissa and a bristle-comb on the hind tibia (amongst other things). But Monty things that it looks more like Leschenaultia or a black Lespesia, which only have 1 row of hairs outside ...

Drino sp. ??? (French Guiana)

Oct

2010

Needs confirmation but the lack of occellar bristles is fairly indicative.

Stacking / compositing photographs 3

Oct

2010

Recently a local photographer called Dave Dare got in touch with me to ask if I could lend him some specimens so that he could practice macro photo stacking/compositing. This seemed a great opportunity for me to help someone out and also have some of my favourite specimens photographed with very deep focus. Dave has ...

Pseudochaeta sp. (Peru)

Oct

2010

This is a specimen of Pseudochaeta – a Carcelia-type tachinid but with a row of strong facial-ridge bristles.

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 ...

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.

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.

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 ...

probably Arrhinactia sp. (Peru)

Oct

2010

This is quite a distinctive and very common taxon in the peruvian samples. The fly has a clear dusting pattern and the tip of the abdomen is laterally compressed and knife-like. Det: Monty Wood, 2010.

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.

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.

Masiphya sp. (Ecuador)

Sep

2010

This is a pair of Masiphya sp. – mantid parasitoids:

Moreiria maura (French Guiana)

Sep

2010

This is quite distinctive little species – similar to Leschenaultia but different. Determination by Monty Wood.

Gonia crassicornis (French Guiana)

Sep

2010

This is apparently a common species around the Caribbean. Determination by Monty Wood.

Chrysoexorista sp. (Bolivia & Brazil)

Sep

2010

This genus is one of my favourites, but from the rather drab greasy-looking colouration you might be forgiven for wondering why? However, their gorgeous metallic green colours only show in life or when freshly removed from alcohol – but when they have dried out the colours are all lost and all that is left is ...

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. […]