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Photo#441759
Fast black flies that periodically infest Dr. Larry Marh's Drosophila lab at the University of California, Irvine - Megaselia scalaris - female

Fast black flies that periodically infest Dr. Larry Marh's Drosophila lab at the University of California, Irvine - Megaselia scalaris - Female
Irvine, Orange County, California, USA
August 13, 2010
Size: ~3mm
These little guys appear in our lab fairly frequently, and are really annoying. There are probably around 30 of them flying around our lab right now. Dr. Peter Bryant, whose office is down the hall, suggested that they might be some kind of parasitic fly feeding on the Drosophila carcasses or something, but he couldn't get any more specific and suggested we send some pics to you guys. We would love to figure out where they're coming from so we can get rid of them. They're getting into our tubes, laying eggs, and generally wreaking havoc. Any help you could give would be great, but (mostly out of curiosity) I'd be really interested in knowing their precise scientific name.

Images of this individual: tag all
Fast black flies that periodically infest Dr. Larry Marh's Drosophila lab at the University of California, Irvine - Megaselia scalaris - female Fast black flies that periodically infest Dr. Larry Marh's Drosophila lab at the University of California, Irvine - Megaselia scalaris - female Fast black flies that periodically infest Dr. Larry Marh's Drosophila lab at the University of California, Irvine - Megaselia scalaris - male Fast black flies that periodically infest Dr. Larry Marh's Drosophila lab at the University of California, Irvine - Megaselia scalaris - male

Moved
Moved from Flies.

I'm not an expert,
but see how your flies compare to this species. The distinctive wing venation is characteristic of scuttle flies (Phoridae).

 
agreed....
In the second female picture you can see on tergite 6 the shiny lateral extension (the distinctive character; unlike the other tergites): Megaselia scalaris.

so long,
xylo

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

The experts who will be able to give you an ID will be more likely to find the pics here.

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