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 what family is this dancing fly?
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| Toby |
Posted on 11-06-2010 23:57
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 Member Location: Posts: 546 Joined: 12.01.07 |
dancing above margin of lake with piece of vegetation dangling - quite a few individuals doing the same thing. Probably very obvious to you guys but I have not seen this before. SW London
Toby |
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| Paul Beuk |
Posted on 12-06-2010 07:15
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 Super Administrator Location: Posts: 19208 Joined: 11.05.04 |
Ceratopogonidae. Never heared of this before. Certain it was piece of vegetation? Some midges also carry nematodes...
Paul - - - - Paul Beuk on https://diptera.info |
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| Toby |
Posted on 12-06-2010 07:50
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Member Location: Posts: 546 Joined: 12.01.07 |
okay that might well be the answer, I wasn't aware they could carry such large parasites!
Toby |
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| Gunnar M Kvifte |
Posted on 12-06-2010 10:39
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Member Location: Posts: 436 Joined: 18.08.09 |
I would guess that the parasite is a horsehair worm (phylum Nematomorpha). As far as I know, they are the only known non-arthropod parasitoids. I haven't heard of them in Diptera before, so this is cool! In most zoology classes, what you learn about Nematomorphans is their killing behaviour: The adults mate in fresh water, and thus mature specimens routinely cause drowning in their hosts (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ylDNMNNwaE). |
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| Eric Fisher |
Posted on 12-06-2010 19:21
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 Member Location: Posts: 435 Joined: 19.05.06 |
Racketman, I found this discovery of yours to be most interesting -- and passed on the info to Dr. Art Borkent, who is a (the!) world authority on Ceratopogonidae. He says: "...if this is from England, it is a female Mallochohelea nitida, with a ribbon of eggs dangling from her. This type of egg laying is present in a group of genera in the tribe Sphaeromiini. Good photo too! I'd be interested in getting a high resolution copy. Possible? Cheers. Art Dr. Art Borkent, Salmon Arm, British Columbia, V1E 2C2, Canada. email: aborkent@sunlite.ca website: http://www.inhs.illinois.edu/research/FLYTREE/Borkent.html" Thanks for any help on this, Eric |
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| pwalter |
Posted on 12-06-2010 20:53
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 Member Location: Posts: 3555 Joined: 06.11.08 |
Wonderful!
Walter Pfliegler - Amateur Nature Photographer from Hungary (and molecular biologist) |
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| Patrycja |
Posted on 12-06-2010 23:27
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 Member Location: Posts: 78 Joined: 02.07.08 |
a high resolution copy? it is very good idea. May I also get this photo? regards  patrycja |
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| Toby |
Posted on 13-06-2010 17:35
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Member Location: Posts: 546 Joined: 12.01.07 |
Patrycja wrote: a high resolution copy? it is very good idea. May I also get this photo? regards patrycja if you give me your e mail address I can send as an attachment. Toby Barton Toby |
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| Paul Beuk |
Posted on 14-06-2010 09:06
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Super Administrator Location: Posts: 19208 Joined: 11.05.04 |
Don't forget our own Gallery here...
Paul - - - - Paul Beuk on https://diptera.info |
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| Toby |
Posted on 14-06-2010 20:28
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Member Location: Posts: 546 Joined: 12.01.07 |
Paul Beuk wrote: Don't forget our own Gallery here... I have read the help section on uploading to the gallery but to no avail; again if I can e mail as an attachment I will. Toby |
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| Paul Beuk |
Posted on 14-06-2010 21:54
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Super Administrator Location: Posts: 19208 Joined: 11.05.04 |
Mainly you should make certain the size is less than 150000 bytes and there are no spaces in the file name.
Paul - - - - Paul Beuk on https://diptera.info |
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but don't see the image in the post.