Posted by
Amir on 02-09-2008 19:30
#1
Habitat is locally shallow salty puddles from drainage thermomineral water from local spa.
Due the high evaporation the salts concentration is high
The water r rich with algae and small microorganisms
#4
If the size of the larvae is about 10-11 mm and they have well developed pseudopodia with hooks then it may be some species of Ephydra, most probably Ephydra flavipes ? the picture of black dorsal spinules on the second photo, left larva, is typical for this species. If the larvae are larger then it may be Halmopota mediterranea.
#6
Strictly speaking, yes. But one does not always have the means to collect the larvae and bring them to a place where you can rear them. Neither do all larvae act kindly to the attempts to rear them, as they can be very picky to the conditions they are kept it (too moist, too dry, airing, etc.) or don't like the food you may supply (if you can find it). And then again, some may need a diapause of some kind of which we know too little to get them though it alive.
#7
Oddly enough, I'm rearing
Ephydra at the moment with little problem - but I agree with Paul - it's not always easy - maggots can be very temperamental! Often, the difficulty is keeping them cool enough in captivity, but in this case that shouldn't be a problem!
As for the identification, they do look like
Ephydra, but there are other similar species.
Halmopota tends to have all the prolegs the same, and
Ephydra and
Setacera tend to have the last proleg much bigger than the others, but this is not always evident in younger larvae. As Moo suggests, keeping some larvae and rearing them is the safest method (until we know the life-history of all the species
). If you have the opportunity, visit the site at a later date and collect puparia - it's much easier to rear from them!
Posted by
Amir on 11-10-2008 14:14
#8
Thank to all
rearing is not option at the moment
but I'll try to be in the place before the nearest rain (next week) and photo them out of the water