Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 20-09-2008 01:25
#1
I'm very fond of Mythicomyiids. I and Andrade have found the very first Mythicomyiids, with a small note prepared to be released soon with Neal Evenhuis.
I showed these following photos and video to the Neal Evenhuis that confirmed my ID of this mythicomyiid: Empidideicus hackmani. In Europe, it is found in Spain and Italy. And now for Portugal. But I know there are some old reports on Empidideicus s.i. from Monte Gordo, but it was never published. However it is another different species.
The fly was caught by Andrade who was perplexed with it, and then he showed me the fly. Immediately I recognized the fly: it is an Empidideicus!
In the same place where we found some Tethina illota and Chamaemyia spp. We have found dozens of H. hackmani specimens around. The flies were collected by hand collecting into glass collection vials. We have found them feeding on Helichrysum cf. decumbens flowers. And I have found an interesting thing: In huge/great numbers it seems that mythicomyiids are very quiet. Another interesting fact: usually "(...) mythicomyiids in Africa and North America are found more commonly in small flowers of Euphorbiaceae and Mesembryanaceae, not necessarily Asteraceae" (according to the Neal Evenhuis). We only found them in Asteraceae flowers, but we cannot take any conclusions about this issue yet. We need much more observations so we can assure better about this question.
The fly is only 1 mm in length.
The video can be seen here: http://www.youtub...gQt2W7Mxls
And the photos: (like for T. pictipennis, for those who wish to see high resolution of these photos, please contact me, and I will add you in my flickr so you can have access them. )
Edited by jorgemotalmeida on 21-03-2023 00:37
Then I will let know when.