Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Protophormia terraenovae?
#1
I photographed this nice fly today at Leerdam, Netherlands. It was about 8-10 mm long and had a dark metallic green body with a bluish shine on the abdomen.
I think it must be Protophormia and I find it very similar to
Protophormia terraenovae in the gallery.
Could someone please confirm or correct me?
Thanks in advance!
#3
Yes,
Protophormia terraenovae
Posted by
Zeegers on 10-08-2007 20:42
#4
HO, stop.
It's Protophormia terranovae and Protocalliphora azurea (or another).
This is Protocalliphora azurea, slightly dark due to the lack of light, apparently.
Protophormia is quite rare in the Netherlands (not in Russia) and Protocalliphora quite common in August.
Theo
#5
To tell you truth Theo, I'm not convinced at all.
May be Protophormia terranovae is rare in the Netherlands. Yes, Protophormia terranovae is rather spring species, but not rare at August too (it seems to me that especialy this year).
But coming back to fly itself.
Protocalliphora azurea has strong prst ac, dusted mesonotum, black apex of palpi, calypters (at least upper) white.
Protophormia terranovae has no prst ac, undusted mesonotum, yellow palpi, dark (so unvisible on photo) calypters. This fly too. And flatterned posterior part of mesonotum.
Nikita
#6
Nikita and Theo,
It is true that light conditions were not great when I photographed it (it was cloudy). But this one looked quite different from an (alleged)
Protocalliphora azurea I photographed before. Not only this fly seemed darker, but the abdomen of P. azurea seems shorter and more broad when I compare that photos with the photos of this fly.
Anyway, I will leave the final id up to you. I hope you can come to an agreement
Posted by
Zeegers on 11-08-2007 12:11
#7
If it didn't look splendidly blue in the field, it's not Protocalliphora.
Moreover, it seems that the prae-ACR are genuinely lacking, as pointed out by Nikita. At first, I guessed this was artifical due to the lack of light. SO, Nikita is right
Theo
#8
It definitely did not look splendidly blue in the field. It looked some shades darker green than a couple of Lucillia sp. in direct comparison. Only when I saw the pictures I noticed that the abdomen had a bluish shine.
I will book it as
Protophormia terraenovae then. Thanks for your help, gentlemen!