Vai al contenuto principale
Openbook
Mark McCaughrean
@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social
1 settimana fa

Huzzah! 🥳

One of our garden's superstars returned today after an absence of three months.

This tachnid is a female Dexia vacua – so rare in central & western Europe that it was thought extinct until recently.

This is the third I've seen here this year, making me the world's leading observer on iNaturalist 🙂

🏰
📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
🐞
🔬
🪰
🪲

A long-legged fly seen in half-profile, standing on some small green leaves. The fly's legs are mostly brown with many black bristles. The head is white and yellow, with well-separated oval red compound eyes. The thorax is dusted yellow with small longitudinal dark stripes and many black bristles. The abdomen is a lighter grey-yellow with black bands across half of each tergite, again with many black bristles. The wings are clear dark grey with amber roots.

#photography #macrophotography #bugoftheday #heidelberg #insectsofmastodon #backgardenentomology

53

Caricamento...

3
14

Caricamento...

Commenti (3)

Mark McCaughrean
1 settimana fa

FWIW, it's fairly easy to confuse D. vacua with the more common Dexiosoma caninum.

But there are several key differences in where black bristles are found (or not) on the thorax & abdomen, along with differences in the lengths of key wing veins.

This specimen clearly meets the conditions for being a female Dexia vacua.

For more insight on the specific differences, this is a great resource:
https://tachinidae.org.uk/blog/dexiosoma-caninum-vs-dexia-vacua/

0
OddOpinions5
1 settimana fa

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social

that is an astonishing photo - is it a z stack ?

0