Scuttle Fly - Aenigmatias

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

Great find. The genus is distinctive as the sole member of the subfamily Aenigmatiinae.

… Edward L. Ruden, 17 February, 2017 - 10:04am

not really

Hi. This an adult female Aenigmatias. Depending on your classification, the Aenigmatiinae is no longer considered a natural group. See Brown, B., Amorim, D. & Kung, G. (2015) New morphological characters for classifying Phoridae (Diptera) from the structure of the thorax. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 173, 424-485.

… Brian V. Brown, 29 August, 2017 - 7:53pm

Thanks so much Edward..

… Richard Migneault, 17 February, 2017 - 11:32am

It's an enigma

Reminds me of Aenigmatias.

… John F. Carr, 17 February, 2017 - 6:31am

Yes, .. Aenigmatias this is e

Yes, .. Aenigmatias this is exactly what it is. Is that an immature or an adult?

… Richard Migneault, 17 February, 2017 - 7:23am

Adult

Adult. The lateral photo of the head looks like Phoridae even in the thumbnail size. The rest of the body is weird.

… John F. Carr, 17 February, 2017 - 7:35am

Should I move it to Phoridae?

… Richard Migneault, 17 February, 2017 - 8:17am

So this is a wingless Scuttle

So this is a wingless Scuttle fly.. Thanks so much John..

… Richard Migneault, 17 February, 2017 - 8:15am

Just a WAG

But could this be Cryptostemmatidae? I'm basing that on body size and the structure of the antennae. I can't make out the mouthparts or whether the bulbous structures are actually the eyes.

… Brady Richards, 16 February, 2017 - 3:29pm

You can see on this other pho

You can see on this other photo that the eyes are just above or behind that bulbous structure which are part of the antennae. Cannot remember which family or genus would have this kind of scale structure.

… Richard Migneault, 16 February, 2017 - 6:52pm

Retraction

I think I'm going to have to retract my guess. I have no idea what this critter might be. Can you tell us what type of mouthparts it has?

… Brady Richards, 16 February, 2017 - 7:13pm

Thanks Brady..

… Richard Migneault, 17 February, 2017 - 8:19am