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Photo#154531
Wingless phorid - Aenigmatias - female
Copyright © 2007 Jeff Gruber & UW-Madison Dept. of Entomology

Wingless phorid - Aenigmatias - Female
Spring Green Preserve SNA, Sauk County, Wisconsin, USA
July 14, 2000
Size: 1-2mm
Collected in flight-intercept trap (5-14 July 2000) in sandy oak barrens.

All pics taken with automontage system.

Image manipulation on this pic: Unsharp mask (Amount: 50%, Radius: 1.0 pixels, Threshhold: 0 levels).

Images of this individual: tag all
Wingless phorid - Aenigmatias - female Wingless phorid - Aenigmatias - female Wingless phorid - Aenigmatias - female
Contributed by Jeff Gruber on 29 October, 2007 - 7:06pm

Amazing creature, Jeff !
Just curious: how does a wingless fly, that is associated with ant nests, end up in a flight-intercept trap ?
Was she hitching a ride with someone; an alate ant perhaps ?
… Emile, 3 October, 2016 - 11:45am

 
carried by a male?
Males are winged. My guess is that it was a mating pair in flight. Either when they hit the plastic sheeting of the FIT or fell into the killing agent they separated. Unfortunately when they separated the male-female species association was lost.

See Dr. Jürgen Kapper's site for a pic of male with attached female. Enlarged photo here.

There is a good description of this behavior here.
… Jeff Gruber, 3 October, 2016 - 12:12pm

 
Sounds like you solved the mystery, Jeff !
Fascinating animal & behavior.
… Emile, 3 October, 2016 - 6:47pm

wow
that is really cool looking thanks for uploading it!.
… Keith Bayless, 29 October, 2007 - 7:12pm

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