Thread subject: Diptera.info :: Thai Asilid 2
Posted by Nikita Vikhrev on 18-12-2010 16:18
#1
This time S Thailand, Khao Lak, 1cm.
I wonder what for such a long ovipositir?
Posted by Nikita Vikhrev on 19-12-2010 16:25
#2
I checked a little bit in books.
May it be Neoitamus?
Posted by Andre on 19-12-2010 19:13
#3
The wingpattern please...
Posted by Eric Fisher on 19-12-2010 23:45
#4
Not Neoitamus, instead Astochia sp. (correct subfamily -- Asilinae). Lovely specimen, but will probably need a male to ID it further.
Posted by Nikita Vikhrev on 20-12-2010 07:34
#5
Thank you, Eric!
As I understand this genus absent in Russia, even in Far East.
Posted by Eric Fisher on 20-12-2010 18:32
#6
You're welcome Nikita.
Astochia is strictly an Old World genus, with about 41 spp. known (Geller-Grimm 1999) -- primarily from the tropical parts of the Oriental Region. Lehr (1988) lists 6 Palaearctic spp, with several known from the former USSR.
I don't know any details about the biology of
Astochia, but would guess that the long, slender ovipositor is used for egg-laying in tight vegetation.
Eric
Posted by Nikita Vikhrev on 30-12-2010 16:13
#7
Thank you, Eric.
1. I was wrong, Astochia was found in Russian Far East.
2. According Lehr, either Neoitamus and Astocia used the unusually long ovipositor for putting eggs in the tips of broken stems.