big headed fly - Calamoncosis

Moved

… Keith Bayless, 22 May, 2012 - 5:24pm

Calamoncosis

Chloropidae, subfamily Oscinellinae.

We've only recently realized how diverse Calamoncosis is in North America. The Manual of Nearctic Diptera lists a single unnamed species, but there are at least six species here (Gregoire Taillefer & Wheeler. 2011. The Canadian Entomologist 143: 652-661). Our species are almost all associated with wetlands or stands of Phragmites.

… Terry Wheeler, 22 May, 2012 - 4:47pm

Since they have the same habitat

and there are undescribed species, would you mind double checking whether this Lipara I identified might be a Calomoncosis?

… Keith Bayless, 22 May, 2012 - 5:29pm

Lipara

Hi Keith - the specimen you identified is a Lipara (well-played!). There's a big size difference between the two genera (although we don't always have that info from photos), but also I find that Lipara tends to have much denser, longer, yellow hairs on the head and thorax. There are a few other characters, but they usually aren't obvious in photos.

I can't say for sure whether it's Lipara lucens though. A few additional species have been introduced from Europe in recent years for biocontrol of Phragmites. I'd err on the side of caution and downgrade the identification to simply Lipara.

… Terry Wheeler, 22 May, 2012 - 7:20pm

Thanks!

I changed the node at which those photos were placed

… Keith Bayless, 22 May, 2012 - 7:30pm

Moved

Moved from Flies.

… Keith Bayless, 9 July, 2009 - 5:24pm

Chloropidae??? Cool fly....

… Martin Hauser, 11 June, 2009 - 3:31pm

maybe a bot fly

I wonder if it might be some kind of bot fly. This one isn't an exact match but the body build looks similar, chunky, and both have red in the eyes, with similar head shape.

… Andrew Williams, 11 June, 2009 - 10:56am