Black fly with thick antennae & hind femora for ID

Geoff F · #1 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 01:55 PM

Another weirdo from those dark damp S. Devon woods.

I said 'Fly' but I am not even certain about that. Very distinctive but I can't remember ever seeing anything like this before.

So can somebody point me in the correct direction and save me from hours of spinning round in circles while performing fruitless searches.

ps. Looks like something has taken a chunk out of the abdomen.

JRsbugs · #2 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 01:58 PM

Hi Geoff, try Ceratopogonidae. Was it small, around 3mm? I have had some, got pics of a mating pair.

Janet

Geoff F · #3 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 06:18 PM

I will check that out shortly. A bit bigger than 3mm, probably 6 or 7 mm. I was trying to photograph a sepis fly and noticed this out of the corner of my eye. It was considerably larger than the Sepsis.

For comparison, it is on a bramble leaf.

Geoff F · #4 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 08:31 PM

Yes that looks like the family, and it is a male. But I can't find much information or get an exact match from the few photos which I have found so far.

Name means beard horned, they are rather vicious blood suckers which can transmit a number of diseases and they bite more in the evenings. Also called Biting Midge.

JRsbugs · #5 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 08:48 PM

You are very unlikely to get even a genus on these, most will end up being called a Ceratopogonidae sp.

I rescued one from a dish of water and took pics while it cleaned itself, was only 2.5mm and a male with the tassle antennae but it also had an abdomen like a female! I'll upload a pic, and one of the mating pair.

JRsbugs · #6 (**permalink**) 06-05-2009, 08:56 PM

The male was identified on diptera.info, the pair look to be the same family.

Laurence Clemons · #7 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 09:06 AM

Try Serromyia femorata.

JRsbugs · #8 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurence Clemons

Try Serromyia femorata.

That does look to be the same as Geoffs, mine is smaller but could be the same genus by the looks. I know that is very risky though given how similar flies can look in a completely different gunus.

It's the only one in Ceratopogonidae on the site I often look at, commanster.eu

However they state theirs is only 2.5-3mm long so they may have got it wrong.

Geoff F · #9 (**permalink**) 07-05-2009, 07:37 PM

Serromyia femorata is starting to look a bit more hopeful. The specimens that I found in Dipteria.info lacked the 'fat thighs' of my fly.

But the Commanster alternative appears to have lighter coloured fore legs.

I will search around a bit more although possibly Serromyia sp. might be as far as I will get with this one.

But that is a lot further than I expected to get.

Thanks to both of you.