Insect for I.D

pilbeam · #1 (**permalink**) 14-07-2010, 10:58 PM

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This Flying insect joined us in the pub on Sunday night. We had never seen anything like it & hoped someone on here may be able to help. The 2nd picture is a blow-up of part of the 1st.
I can assure you that it was released back into the wild & no animals were injured in the making of these pictures.

Geoff F · #2 (**permalink**) 15-07-2010, 08:42 PM

That is going to be a tricky one. It rather looks like some species of fly, and a female with an abdomen full of eggs. That pale colouration is making me think of something which I have seen previously but it isn't in my basic book.

What size? But I can only hope that one of our fly specialists will see this and make a more informed suggestion.

JRsbugs · #3 (**permalink**) 15-07-2010, 09:23 PM

The shape looks to me like Lauxaniidae, Meiosimyza rorida is a good possibilty. Definite ID requires being able to see the whole fly close up, and seeing if it has a row of short setulae on the inner front femora.

Diptera.info - Photo Albums: Meiosimyza rorida (female) (2)

Janet

pilbeam · #4 (**permalink**) 15-07-2010, 09:58 PM

Size was max 5mm in length, The beer mat It's on is a fairly standard sized one approx 3-4 ins diameter. What puzzled us was the size of the abdomen & what looked like (to our untrained eyes at least) a prominent ovipositor, though if she's full of eggs that could explain both. Unfortunately this was the best picture we could get & I've blown it up as much as I can. Thanks for your help so far, better than I could do by a long chalk.

JRsbugs · #5 (**permalink**) 15-07-2010, 10:06 PM

Have you looked at the pic in the link I gave? That is my pic, the abdomen did look to bulge at the end like you noted.

All the same, Lauxaniidae are a tricky lot and you need to see the finer details.

pilbeam · #6 (**permalink**) 16-07-2010, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRsbugs

Have you looked at the pic in the link I gave? That is my pic, the abdomen did look to bulge at the end like you noted.

All the same, Lauxaniidae are a tricky lot and you need to see the finer details.

I did look at the link but the head & thorax are not quite as I remember them on our fly. Unfortunately the photographer couldn't get a reasonable picture of them. I will show the others who saw it your link & see what they think.
Thanks again for all your help, It is genuinely appreciated.