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| 1 | 2 |  » Stats |
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| | Welcome to our newest member, NielsC | |  | 
30-04-2011, 09:37 AM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Saddleworth
Posts: 4,134
| |  robber flies?
Hi, grateful for ID help with these please - are they two robber flies on prey both trying to get a meal?
They were all tangled in mid air, yesterday, and then alighted. Sorry about the poor pic................  
Cheers
Ken
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Sensible Mole, said Ratty, perceiving Old Burton Beer..... |
30-04-2011, 12:11 PM
|  | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lincoln
Posts: 4,826
| | | Re: robber flies?
Hi Ken, you did remarkably well to get most of that tangle in focus!
I think these are Empididae, in copula. The male presents the female with a feast so he can have his way, but the protein provided by the fly is needed for the female to produce viable eggs and I think some studies have been done to show this.
The dinner is a Bibio. sp.
Janet 
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30-04-2011, 05:26 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Saddleworth
Posts: 4,134
| | | Re: robber flies?
Hi Janet,
Wow! I thought copulation might be on the agenda, but not with a meal thrown in!  
Brilliant, thanks a lot, I'll see if I can get closer to ID now.
Cheers
Ken
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Sensible Mole, said Ratty, perceiving Old Burton Beer..... |
01-05-2011, 08:31 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Saddleworth
Posts: 4,134
| | | Re: robber flies?
Help!
I cant find these on bioimages, wiki etc etc.
Anyone else help please?
Dance/dagger flies, poss Empis or Rhamphomyia spp maybe - the abdomen colouration and all black legs should help a bit.........................
Cheers
Ken
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Sensible Mole, said Ratty, perceiving Old Burton Beer..... |
01-05-2011, 09:21 AM
|  | Knight Grand Cross of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: London
Posts: 11,830
| | | Re: robber flies?
Morning Ken,
The Empidoids are a difficult bunch. There are some pretty Empidoid-experienced people on here who may offer more. In the mean-time I think the British work on them is by Cambridge University Press, and is in two or three volumes.
Take care,
Jason |
01-05-2011, 10:33 AM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Saddleworth
Posts: 4,134
| | | Re: robber flies?
Afternoon Jason,
thanks for that advice!
oh heck, leave as Empididae then - I guess thats what Janet was driving at too !
Cheers
Ken
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Sensible Mole, said Ratty, perceiving Old Burton Beer..... |
01-05-2011, 12:32 PM
| | Commander of the Wild Empire | | Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Lincoln
Posts: 4,826
| | | Re: robber flies?
Quote:
Originally Posted by diggleken  Afternoon Jason,
thanks for that advice!
oh heck, leave as Empididae then - I guess thats what Janet was driving at too !
Cheers
Ken | Correct! Even if you could see more detail you would be unlucky to get more than a genus with many of these apart from Empis. You would be surprised just how many species of these we have, I think I counted 67 Hilara species alone! The Society for the study of flies (Diptera)
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