Thread subject: Diptera.info :: unidentified Hong Kong fly species
Posted by
hkmoths on 27-02-2005 05:49
#1
Hi everyone,
I'm not a dipterist by training (my research focuses on moths), so am guessing a little at the following species. Is it a tabanid, or something else? Just curious. Any further relevent ideas or comments are most welcome. The specimen has been retained; it measures 14mm in length.
Collected at mercury vapour light trap in Hong Kong (150m from woodland, 75m from a large stream and with market gardening / abandoned agricultural land adjacent - a right old mix) on 23 Feb 05.
Many thanks,
Roger
__________________________________
Roger C. Kendrick Ph.D.
P/T Snr. Conservation Officer
Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden
Hong Kong
C & R Wildlife, Lam Tsuen Valley
Tai Po, Hong Kong
e-mail: hkmoths at yahoo.co.uk
Edited by
hkmoths on 27-02-2005 05:50
Posted by
ChrisR on 27-02-2005 13:15
#2
Quote: Looks like an Asilid to me - and a real beauty!
OK - i stand corrected
Just shows how little i know about Larger Brachycera!
Chris R.
Edited by
ChrisR on 28-02-2005 12:05
#3
No, I don't think this is an Asilidae, because these have ocelli on a depression between their eyes, also the males!
This specimen has touching eyes without depression.
looking at this photo it should be a male Tabanidae, or maybe a member of the family Therevidae! Of what I can see of the wing venation, it is almost certainly Tabanidae, but I'm no expert on Asian Diptera, so there is still a little doubt!
Maybe other people can give an opinion as well!
Greetings,
#4
This has all the makings of a tabanid in the genus
Haematopota but there are a few related genera. As far as I know the genus is known also from the continental part of the Oriental region. A very nice picture of a very nice male (one reason being that the males do not bite
).
Posted by
Zeegers on 27-02-2005 22:03
#5
Magnificent !!
It is indeed a male Haematopota without doubt (Tabanidae).
Some of the oriental Haematopota have bizarre antennae, as very well demonstrated.
I have a review to the Oriental Haematopota, I will look into it.
But, males are always difficult (because undercollected).
Thanks for the beautiful picture
Theo Zeegers
Posted by
hkmoths on 01-03-2005 02:53
#6
Many thanks to Chris, Gerard, Paul and Theo for your replies. Most helpful
.
As a follow up question, where (or who) is the most suitable depository for specimens that may be undescribed? I am well aware that undercollected species will be in demand for collections in general, though I give preference to specialists with sound credentials and whose work will be made readily available to the scientific and wildlife conservation communities in general.
cheers,
Roger.
#7
I guess you get in contact with either someone at the Hong Kong Lepidopterist's Society (
hkls.org, email: ), or at the Department of Biology of the Hong Kong University. The latter has an entomological collection (which I gathered from an abstract I found on the internet) but I have not been able to find a specific address or contact. A seven year old address I found of a person at the Department of Zoology at that university is of Siu-Ming Chan ().
Posted by
Zeegers on 01-03-2005 21:15
#8
Dear Roger,
My suggestion would be to look for a special.
I'm afraid that sending it to a general collection will lead to a nice place in their collection, and nobody looking at it for the next 50 years.
So let's first look at it and then put it in a collection.
Nowadays there are not too many specialist on Tabanidae.
John Chainey (BMNH) used to be a good one for the Afrotropical and Oriental Region, but I just recently learned he has been transferred to Lepidoptera and cannot accept any material on Tabanidae any more.
If you cannot find a professional, I might be able to help or at least give it a serious try. My interest in Tabanidae is worldwide, though with stress on Palaearctic region.
I do have a small collection of Oriental Haematopota and the relevant literature.
Love to help you out (and please keep collecting !!).
Theo Zeegers
The Netherlands
Posted by
Zeegers on 01-03-2005 21:37
#9
'to look for a special'
should read
'specialist'
sorry for the typo
theo
Posted by
hkmoths on 02-03-2005 06:24
#10
Hi Theo & Paul,
Thanks for your comments.
Regarding options in HK: the HKLS (of which I'm a founder member and on their council) is unsuited to Diptera - it has no collections of its own (collections of several members, including my moth collection, are housed at Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden - KFBG). The collection at HKU is (to be polite) in a poor state of disrepair. I could use the facilities at KFBG, where I work, but I'm not a Diptera specialist, so the specimen would only quietly sit for decades awaiting a Diptera taxonomist. That leaves the only realistic option as HK Govt. collections, which have no Diptera specialists (there was someone who specialised in mosquitoes, but that's a while ago now). I could deposit the specimen with their Agricultural Fischeries & Conservation Department (and I have no doubt they'ed be grateful), but I have no way of ensuring long term curation with the HK Govt.
Consequently I regard other options - i.e. "loaning" to a Diptera specialist or depositing at a major institution with significant holding of Oriental Diptera as more realistic.
Further suggestions, please....
Roger.
#11
You can follow Theo's suggestion of sending it to the BMNH (Natural History Museum) in London but if you would rather keep it in a more regional collection, then I can find a Japanese collection if you want. There are a few Japanese dipterists who work on the orthorrhaphous Diptera (Saigusa, Nagatomi) and I think that either of them will be happy to receive it for their collection.
Posted by
Zeegers on 04-03-2005 12:16
#12
I have consulted the literature.
Most possible species are only known in the female sex.
So I can help you when you find the female sex.
Theo Zeegers
Posted by
conopid on 24-03-2005 22:19
#13
Wow! What a beauty. I don't know that much about flies, but if that's not a tabanid, then I'll eat my hat!
#14
Good apetite!
But do not worry, you do not have to eat your hat because it is a tabanid (as you can see above). But with tabanids like these I am not quite sure whether we should be happy or sad that we do not have them, because they are biting beauties.
#15
Hello to all,
i am new in this forum, therefore my answer is a little bit late and the problem may be finished yet.
I know a member of the Zoolog. Staatssammlung M?nchen, Wolfgang Schacht, who is spezialist for Tabanidae and who may know east-asian tabanids, because of excursions to Taiwan.
www.zsm.mwn.de
Best regards
Gisela Merkel-Wallner