Black fly with distinctive antennae and wing venation

[Bruce Williams]

Stony Stratford, Bucks.

Help with identification appreciated as always:



Bruce

[JRsbugs]

It's Sciaridae Bruce, could be Bradysia sp. but these are generally not easily identified.

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks Janet.

In following up on your id I came across this bit of interesting information:

"Sex determination in Sciarids is unusual, and in some species a given female is only able to produce either male or female offspring because of elimination of sex chromosomes (Metz, 1938; Steffan, 1981; Sanchez and Perondini, 1999)".

I also read that in some species the gender ratio in offspring was found to be strongly biased to either male or female depending on ambient temperature. Interesting to think that scientists are actually investigating this sort of thing.

Obviously the above may not relate to the species in my photograph.

Bruce

[JRsbugs]

Interesting stuff Bruce! There are books on these, if you feel you really wanted to get into species identification but most people tend to ignore them and not all species are covered.

I found an online key but these require the specimen and you know what..

http://www.online-keys.net/sciaroide...ecklist_GB.pdf

Someone's blog gives some info..

Life On An Oxfordshire Lawn: A fungus gnat , Sciarida (possibly Bradysia)

I usually see females but have seen at least one male.

[poschiavanus]

Originally Posted by Bruce Williams

Thanks Janet.

I also read that in some species the gender ratio in offspring was found to be strongly biased to either male or female depending on ambient temperature. Interesting to think that scientists are actually investigating this sort of thing.

Bruce

Just like many reptiles, Crocodiles for example.

Sex determination is way more complicated than they let on in school and university.

[Bruce Williams]

Well, I didn't know that.

Thanks posch.
Bruce