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Hello,
here is another fly at the prey. The honeybee was attacked by 2 wasps (Vespula germanica?) and this small fly occurred already during the attack.
Can it be Desmometopa of Milichidae? There are 2 known species of Desmometopa in Slovakia: D. m-nigrum and D.sordida. According to my key, they differ by the colour of halteras. But the visible haltera is not entirely yellow. In spite of it, can it be Desmometopa sordida?

Size cca 2 mm, Slovakia, old magnesite mine near Kosice, August 2006

Thanks in advance

Martin

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Yes, this is Desmometopa. You can see the characteristic black M-shaped marking on the frons.

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There are at least 5 Desmometopa species which could be found in Slovakia:

discipalpis Papp 1993
m-nigrum (Zetterstedt 1848)
microps Lamb 1914
sordida (Fall?n 1820)
varipalpis Malloch 1927

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To Paul: Thanks for confirmation of the genus.
To Kahis: I have probably old information (Cepelak 1984: Diptera Slovenska). There are only 2 mentioned species (m-nigrum and sordida). Is it not possible to identify the species level from previous pictures? I have also other views from this situation but I dont know what are the distinguishing marks, :(.

Martin

Martin

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Nothing has changed Martin, at least according to the 1997 checklist of Slovak diptera. But all of the other species I listed have been found in nearby countries (discipalpis and microps from Hungary) and they may perhaps occur in Slovakia too.

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Thanks for explanation Kahis, I understand that Slovakia is still not explored from dipterological point of view. I know that pictures have seldom enough information to identify the species.

It is not my specialization but such interspecific relations are fascinating to me. In this case I have observed amazon ant (Polyergus rufescens) in its raid when two wasps attacked the honeybee. They cut it to pieces which were attracted by Desmometopa flies and Tetramorium ants.

Martin