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Originally Posted by JRsbugs  I'm not sure what the best line of approach here is.  I had thought of privately mailing Andre to ask what his ID criteria was, he may have had an off day but then again not. |
Well, I doubt he would be upset if you just asked for clarification - you want to learn the differences yourself and any expert should be able to justify their IDs
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One point about taking IDs from pics, I must say that in a good number of cases a fly would not have been caught, or in my case I don't want to catch them. This surely gives rise to many valid records which otherwise would have been missed. With the improvement of digital camers, combined with an individual's passion and desire to take photos, this has to be a bonus to any recording scheme.
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Well, I have to be careful here because I enjoy giving out identifications for photos (if I can)
and there are obviously species that are so distinctive and so unlikely to be anything else (e.g.
Tachina grossa,
Mintho rufiventris,
Eriothrix rufomaculata etc.) that the record would probably be accepted.
But, for instance, if you post a normal photo of a
Phryxe sp. with parafrontal bristles almost meeting the facial-ridge bristles then I'd have to say that it looks like
Phryxe vulgaris ... but I can't disprove
P.heraclei because I can't see the bristlets on the underside of the costal vein and I can't discount
P.magnicornis because I can't see the male genitalia - so I wouldn't accept it as a record. Same goes for the
Phania funesta example - I am going to be right 99% of the time but I can't discount
P.thoracica because I can't count the tibial spurs on the hind legs, so I wouldn't take the record again