Diptera.info

Posted by blowave on 09-11-2010 00:16

Hello!

On the same fungi as the Neuroctena anilis egg, which disappeared the day after I took the second photos of it on 2nd November.

http://diptera.in...d_id=34292

This larva I first saw on 5th November, could it be Neuroctena anilis? The colour is correct!

Janet :)

Posted by atylotus on 11-11-2010 15:15

I think you cannot rule out Diptera (Nematocera) larva. At a first glance it looks a bit like a Bibionidae, but the anal end is too blurry to be sure. Mycetophilidae or Sciaridae may be possible too. You may have to check if there are some kind of (reduced) legs. Diptera larvae do not have legs, while many (to all?) Coleoptera-larva have some kind of leg(parts) with claws. It looks as if the thorax and many abdominal segments has stigmata (holopneustic/peripneustic?), so if it is a diptera than many families can be excluded. I'm not that much of an expert on terrestrial Coleoptera larva, but I don't know of any larva with prothoracic spiracles (but you may know that I only have field of expertise in the aquatic habitat).
It is definetely not a Dryomyzidae because it has a non-retractable head.

Edited by atylotus on 11-11-2010 15:18

Posted by blowave on 11-11-2010 17:03

atylotus wrote:
I think you cannot rule out Diptera (Nematocera) larva. At a first glance it looks a bit like a Bibionidae, but the anal end is too blurry to be sure. Mycetophilidae or Sciaridae may be possible too. You may have to check if there are some kind of (reduced) legs. Diptera larvae do not have legs, while many (to all?) Coleoptera-larva have some kind of leg(parts) with claws. It looks as if the thorax and many abdominal segments has stigmata (holopneustic/peripneustic?), so if it is a diptera than many families can be excluded. I'm not that much of an expert on terrestrial Coleoptera larva, but I don't know of any larva with prothoracic spiracles (but you may know that I only have field of expertise in the aquatic habitat).
It is definetely not a Dryomyzidae because it has a non-retractable head.

Thanks for this information. I do have another pic from the same time I took that one, and two more from another time on the same fungus the following day but I'm not sure they show any more detail.

I have regularly seen a Mycetophilidae with spotted wings on the fungus, and have found some pupae which appear to be empty and are around 7mm long. On one day I saw a male and at least two females of the spotted wing Mycetophiidae, I had posted it for ID in this thread

This was the same larva as above..