Fruit fly - Paroxyna? - Campiglossa clathrata

Thanks for the ID, Martin

I do have a couple of shots that show the wing pattern a tiny bit better, but it seems you have been able to make the ID from this and the shots of the mating pair, quite apparently the same species. Also thank you for correcting the genus name change. One question: I was trying to discern between clathrata, americana, and copulenta and was unable to. Can you tell me how to make that distinction?

… Jerry Lacy, 1 September, 2007 - 1:37pm

Hmmm, the short story is that

Hmmm, the short story is that corpulenta and americana are both synonyms of genalis. And the difference between genalis and clathrata are that calthrata is a lighter species and the setae on the antenna scapus are white yellow, while in genalis they are black brownish, the postocular setae (on the back of the head) are all white in calthrata and white and black mixed in genalis, the hairs on the front femur are white in calthrata and brown in genalis...all things you need a hand lense or a Microscope for. This genus is a nightmare, a lot of variation in one species and the species are not very well defined. There is a revision of this genus by Novak 1974, but it is one of the least helpful revisions I ever had to work with...I have a PDF which I can email you...
Cheers
Martin

… Martin Hauser, 1 September, 2007 - 2:20pm

I would love to see it.

I really appreciate your time spent on this. Thanks again.
Jerry

… Jerry Lacy, 1 September, 2007 - 3:02pm

Do you have a better pic of t

Do you have a better pic of the wings? So far it looks like Campiglossa, the new name for Paroxyna.

… Martin Hauser, 31 August, 2007 - 9:42am