The Society for the study of flies (Diptera)

Hi John,

Thank you but I who misspoke you know I still have progress to make in English.
In fact I read an article on the plumule saying this. The plumule is second useful characteristic, it resembles a velvety feather, located on the side of the chest, beneath the base of the wing. The curious chemoreceptor trigger small structure is not well studied, but almost exclusively to Hoverfly. In your opinion is this valid? Does not some hoverflies plumule this?

Best wishes

Hi John,

It does not matter do not apologize, I discovered the existence of the plume there is little time ! But I was wondering if this kind microdon included plumule ?

Best wishes

Whilst I cannot answer the question I can direct the forum to a mention of the "plumule". It appears in the web document at www.syrphys.com/pdf/asters_brochure_60pages_final.pdf
The quote on page 4 second column of the document is " La plumule est une seconde caractéristique utile, elle ressemble à une petite plume veloutée, localisée sur le coté du thorax, sous la base de l’aile. Cette curieuse petite structure chémoréceptrice n’est pas très bien étudiée, mais elle est presque exclusive aux Syrphes."
Perhaps the first author of the document - Martin Speight - can enlighten us?
I must confess that like others I have no idea what this structure is.

Last edited by brianh (2010-03-18 13:39:16)

Hello Pierre

The 'plumule' to which you are referring (almost unique in the Diptera) is a feature of the whole family Syrphidae  - they all have them, so they are not used as a diagnostic feature to genus level (as far as I am aware).

Situated on the side of the thorax just under the wing base between the halteres and the head, these small feathery structures probably serve the same function as the eversible structures found in many moths - they are chemo-receptors to detect the phermones emitted by females.

So, if your fly has a plumule then the chances are it will be a hoverfly - but there are other far more obvious diagnostic features for identification

Hope that helps

Regards

Neil