Diptera.info

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 15-10-2007 00:08

Hi

* locality - Fontelo's garden - Viseu - PORTUGAL
* date - 2007.10.13
* size - 6 mm (medium fly)
* habitat - public garden
* substrate - resting on a leaf of Hedera sp., very near the ground

Oxypsila sp. ? I found this fly near the other psilids females. There were much more females than males... This could be confused with Geron sp. (Ichneumonidae wasp) but the size for this fly is bigger..

EDIT--> Title changed from "Another Psilidae... male one." to "Clusiidae" then to "Clusiidae - Clusiodes cf. albimanus / verticalis" and then "Clusiodes cf. verticalis"

Edited by jorgemotalmeida on 16-10-2007 08:21

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 15-10-2007 00:23

hmm.. ok. this fly has the portion apical of the wing infuscated; and it has arista bare unlike the other fly (see Psilidae); vibrissae are present... and of course the wing venation it is from Clusiidae!

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 15-10-2007 00:28

and it has a pre-apical bristle in tibia (really it has 2)!!! Psilidae HAS never this. Is it right?

Edited by jorgemotalmeida on 15-10-2007 00:29

Posted by Jan Willem on 15-10-2007 08:41

Hi Jorge,

Looks like Clusiodes (a female) to me. Not one of the subgenus Clusaria. I can't see clearly if postvertical bristles (lying directly behind the ocellar triangle) are present. If not then is would be the Clusiodes (Columbellia) verticalis (which I have never seen). If the pvt bristles are present then it is a species of the subgenus Clusiodes. If so you would have to know the number of orbital bristles (normally three pairs in albimana, normally two pairs in gentilis and caledonica).

Jan Willem

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 16-10-2007 08:14

Bernhard Metz (expert clusiid) wrote to me: "Thank you for the 3 nice photos which show clearly a species (female) of Clusiodes of the family Clusiidae. Jan Willem is correctly giving the problems of identification of the species of the genus. I suspect it is C. albimanus, but this identification is only given with a very big questionmark ???? It could also be C. verticalis which differs in the characters mentioned by Jan Willem. It is not one of the other species he mentioned in his mail (caledonicus, gentilis). There is no way to make a safer identification. Larvae of Clusiidae live under the bark of rotton wood. Usually males are more abundant so it is interesting to read that you saw more females. "

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 16-10-2007 08:19

#10

Jindrich Roh?cek (another clusiid expert) send to me right now a message: "For me your Clusiodes is most probably C. verticalis (Collin, 1912), as Jan-Willem suggested. This species is markedly more colourful than species of the Clusiaria subgenus. By the way, the subgenera of Clusiodes are no longer in use, all are considered synonyms of Clusiodes because there are several intermediate species in America. (...)"

It seems more probably to be Clusiodes cf. verticalis . I will need to take some more shots.

Posted by jorgemotalmeida on 16-10-2007 16:36

#11

I realized in the field that this female fly was sending "signals" - moving her legs like an ulidiid fly does...

Jindrich told to me: "Clusiids often have complicated behavior, both males (fighting for mating leks on trunks) and females (premating behaviour) which you have observed. Normally a male occupy lightened spot on a trunk (a lek) which he defends against other
males and waits for a female. When she visit the lek, both begin to visually communicate moving with fore (strikingly coloured) legs and wings. The larvae are xylosaprophagous living in rotting wood (in falled trunks or in stumps) of trees." I must try to testify this!!!