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Hi


* locality - Silgueiros - Viseu - PORTUGAL
* date - 2007.09.20
* size - 6 mm (medium fly)
* habitat - woodland
* substrate - stucked on Araneidae web spider..


That's why the wings are so damaged. :(
I think this could be a Sciomyzid. It would be the first in this area!!!

Sorry for bad quality of photos.


EDIT---> Title changed from "Sciomyzidae?" to "Trixoscelididae - Trixoscelis sp. "

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another....

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another shot..

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other...

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not Sciomyzidae.
May be Suillia variegata?

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this doesn?t seem an heliomyzid.. i think.. :o

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Trixoscelis!

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is this rare to see? Right?

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They are not exceptionally rare or so. They are just encountered infrequently. Mostly found near the soil, I think.

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Is it true that this fly belongs to a new family: TRIXOSCELIDIDAE?
If so... :) It would be great to know which Trixoscelis...
for Portugal there are:
T. aproximmata
T. serpens

Which one? Or is another species?

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Hi Jorge !,
catch the flies :)
This is Trixoscelis of so called obscurella-species group !.
thera are 4-5 species, sometimes very similar (both crosseins clouded), so without straight wings I couldn't tell more (rather not approximata where the posterior crossein is sligthly louded and rather step not over the vein.
Andrzej

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Andrzej

I caught the fly on spider web (Araneidae). It was almost dead, and the wings curled a little. :S Maybe there are more, but it is raining at the moment. :(

Trixoscelididae used to be in Heleomyzidae traditionally. True? Is it a real family now?

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Hmm,
There are a lot of people and lot of opinions.
I am deeply convinced that is a rather young (as for the animals) but a monophyletic group.
Andrzej

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Andrzej,

Do you have a usable key to European Trixoscelis species? The older one by Hackman does not really help me to get where I need. I have some material from France and Greece that could do with/need identification.

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:)
Andrzej, i would need that key as well... :) To see wing venation so I can know which of 4 species (the approximata was discarded). I hope "to fix" the wings..

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Hi,
I use the key of Hackman and additionally other descriptions.

The key to all Europaean species has not been yet made. In my opinion a key to Trixoscelis species should include all Europaean, and from North Africa and the asiatic species described by some authors also (some species are more widely distributed in the Mediterranean basin as we suppose)
Few weeks ago I worked out three papers on Trixoscelididae (one from Turkey with a new species dedicated to Nikita :), second on UAE Trixoscelis species including two new to the science and to Diptera Stelviana with notes on the synonymy of T. canescens). I hope its will be printed 2007 and 2008.

P.S.
Jorge I hope that you collected the specimens for ID ? :)
Andrzej

Andrzej

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yes. I collected one specimen. :) Let me know your address. I will send today a bunch of posts. :D

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Hello,



Well, congratulations...

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Trixoscelis nikitiensis? :D :D

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Andrzej: Done! I sent for you the Trixoscelis! It is on the way. :D