Sphecomyiella valida. - Sphecomyiella nelsoni

Moved

Moved from Sphecomyiella valida.

Dr. Fisher informed me he keyed this specimen to genus using the MND(1). Since the genus was listed as having the single species valida in that reference, the post was placed under that name.

For more details on this move, see comments here.

… Aaron Schusteff, 15 September, 2013 - 8:38pm

Not nelsoni?

The location suggests this may be Sphecomyiella nelsoni Kondratieff and Fitzgerald, 1993. Did you check the terminalia?

… John F. Carr, 3 April, 2012 - 7:20pm

I'm wondering the same thing

As are the Balabans. I found what I think is S. nelsoni during the recent BugGuide gathering in southern AZ. See below for that post, and the comments there regarding this post:

… Aaron Schusteff, 29 August, 2013 - 11:03pm

PS:

Another item of interest here...

In Dr. Fisher's male image above...the large, conspicuous mouthparts (visible in front of the fly's "right knee") are very different from the diminutive mouthparts of the specimen which I suspect to be a female in my post below:

I wonder if that difference in the size & shape of the mouthparts may be a dependable character for distinguishing male and female pyrgotids?

A post of another pyrgotid I saw at the gathering also has "chunky" tetrahedral-shaped mouthparts like those in Dr. Fisher's post. Again, maybe that indicates it's a male?

PPS: I just checked the discussions of Pyrgotidae in the MND(1), Steyskal's 1978 synopsis, and Kondratieff & Fitzgerald's (1993) paper...none mentions sexually dimorphic mouthparts. While I was hoping one of those references might confirm my speculation...not finding mention of it doesn't necessarily invalidate the possibility of consistently sexually dimorphic mouthparts in the two species here...and perhaps in other pyrgotids. So many unanswered questions in entomology! :-)

… Aaron Schusteff, 5 September, 2013 - 9:23pm

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Will Chatfield-Taylor, 22 September, 2009 - 5:40pm