The Society for the study of flies (Diptera)

Alan Outen wrote:

Yesterday (25 Jul 2010) we had a Beds NHS Recorders Day at Thurleigh Airfiled, Beds. As the dry conditions made it difficult to usefully achieve much with the two groups for which I am County Recorder (Fungi and Bryophytes) I again found myself drawn to the insects!

Following the advice from Falky on my previous posting on Tephritids to "sweep the flowerheads of different knapweed, thistle and ragowrt species and you should find a good variety, but keep a note of which species of plant you swept" this was what I did.

There was plenty of Cirsium vulgare and C.repens plus Senecio jacobaea, Centaurea nigra and Pulicaris dysenterica but with a single exception from Pulicaria (see below) these yielded absolutely nothing! I did sweep Anamoia permunda again on Hawthorn and Terellia tussilaginis again from Arctium minus.

However a marshy area / dried up pond with Carex spp. Juncus sp. Typha latifolia, Schoenoplectus lacustris and Mentha aquatica was alive with one Tephritid species remote from any 'normal' associate and I also swept two species from Petty Whin! This doesnt make life easier for a novice at all!

One of the species attached here, with the black ovipositor is I am sure a female Urophora cardui though this was swept from Petty Whin!

I am unsure as to whether I have one or two species with the bluish-black thorax and orange brown eyes. The two images of the more heavily marked winged individuals are of the type that was abundant in the marshy area described above. A single sweep would produce up to ten individuals.

The specimen with the bluish-black thorax and orange brown eyes but much less heavily marked wings was again swept from Petty Whin!

The insect with the pale brown thorax and pale orange eyes reminds me of the species on my earlier posting that was identied by Falky as Tephritis formosa. This insect however is slightly smaller than that was and seems to me to be somewhat differently marked. In addition neither Sonchus nor Crepis were seen anwhere near the area where this one was found. It was swept from Pulicaria dysenterica, which does have Tephritids associated with it but I cant be sure that this specimen is genuinely associated with it as I only caught this one!

Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated as always. I have retained specimens.

Many thanks

Alan

Hi Alan
They appear to be : 1, Herina longistylata, 2, Herina longistylata, 3, Herina germinationis,
4, Tephritis formosa & 5, Urophora cardui.
Cheers,
Mick