Pelecotheca ← ChrisR

Some more stacking … 1

Oct

2011

Here are a few Pelecotheca (Cryptocladocera) sp. stacks. The technique involves taking about 30 photos, each at a different focal point in the specimen and using a macro-rail to slowly move the camera backwards or forwards. The focused parts of each photo are then combined using software called Zerene Stacker (Pmax setting) to make the ...

My first stacks 7

Apr

2011

Yesterday Malcolm Storey (bioimages.org.uk) brought over some new equipment he had just bought for photo-stacking, along with a ‘kit’ including a spare dSLR (3MP Nikon D100) and macro lenses. The real star of the equipment is Malcolm’s new StackShot – an automated system for racking a camera through pre-defined focus points and taking the photos ...

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.

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.

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 ...

Pelecotheca (Cryptocladocera) sp. male (pe-taxon #25)

Feb

2010

This is the only Cryptocladocera in the peruvian sample and it looks very like the ones from French Guiana – fg-taxon #04.

Multifissicorn tachinid faces (Pelecotheca s.g. Cerotachina & Cryptocladocera)

Feb

2010

This is a little post just to show the range of antennal branching in different multifissicorn tachinids – apologies for the poor quality of the photos. As you can see, Cryptocladocera spp. have huge branches on their antennae while both of the 2 new species have much shorter antennal branches, which seems closer to the ...

Pelecotheca flavipes Thompson (Neominthoini, pe-taxon #16)

Feb

2010

After keying this taxon through MCAD it looks like one of the Neominthoini (it emerges on Neomintho, where most Neominthoini will end up) and the strong bristles on the facial ridges and the very elongate antennae are reminiscent of the females of the Pelecotheca group of species. All of the specimens in this species group are ...

Pelecotheca (Cerotachina) sp. male (pe-taxon #14)

Feb

2010

This appears to be another new, hitherto undescribed, species closely related to Cerotachina – it has no median discals and antenna-3 is very shallowly multifissicorn. That is, the third antennal segment has bumps on both sides covered with tufts of long hairs. These bumps are shorter than the branches on my French Guianan Cerotachina and ...

Pelecotheca (prob. Cryptocladocera) sp. female (fg-taxon #90)

Nov

2009

This one is unusual because the abdomen is tipped with a strange, shiny, flattened structure that resembles a squashed tube. EDIT (Monty Wood 26/9/2010): This is an example of a female Pelecotheca (probably the female of the large multi-fissicorn featherfaces so sub-genus Cryptocladocera). The flattened shiny structure is distinctive of this group of sub-genera.

Pelecotheca (Cryptocladocera) sp. male (fg-taxon #4) 3

Apr

2009

This is one of my favourite French Guianan tachinids! At first glance it looks fairly standard but when you examine the face you will see that antennal segment 3 (normally rectangular) has been formed into a feather-like structure, similar in design to moth antennae! This structure is recessed in a deep concavity in the face ...

Tachinid Recording News

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. […]
How to split Tachina fera type tachinids in photos August 17, 2019
One of the most difficult problems is how to confirm/verify the identification of photos of flies that look quite like Tachina fera. I’d include in that group any of the following species: Tachina fera, Tachina magnicornis, Nowickia ferox, Linnaemya vulpina, Peleteria rubescens, Peleteria iavana & male Nemoraea pellucida. They’re all fairly large, bristly flies […]
Dexiosoma caninum vs Dexia vacua August 6, 2019
I always find that one of the hardest identifications to make from photos is the split between Dexiosoma caninum and the much rarer Dexia vacua. Dexia vacua is so rare that many experts thought that it was extinct in Western Europe so getting good, reliable records from photos is very important because it seems […]