Fruit fly

Moved

Moved from Flies--but it doesn't look like any flies already shown for this family.

… R. Berg, 14 January, 2010 - 3:53pm

And it is

different. It's a platypezid, so family Platypezidae!
greetings

… Gerard Pennards, 14 January, 2010 - 3:14pm

Near Platypeza

From a little net research it seems the forked M vein and straight wing margin near base of wing put it near Platypeza.

… John F. Carr, 14 January, 2010 - 6:16pm

Agree: Platypeza or (nearby) Protoclythia

Wing venation and lack of yellow-orange on abdomen (thus not Calotarsa?) takes this gal to either Platypeza or Protoclythia in the keys of both the MND(1) and Kessel & Maggiancalda (1968). But both those keys distinguish these two genera by relative lengths of the 1st and 3rd tarsi of the hind leg...unfortunately not visible in the photo.

The line through cross-vein r-m slices the costal cell c very near the tip on the right wing...but seems to slice at about 2/3 out on the left wing! So maybe the right half of this fly is Platypeza and the left half Protoclythia? :-)

Wish we had some posts of female Pr. californica to compare this to. There are four images of a female of the palearctic species Pr. rufa at this link.

… Aaron Schusteff, 12 February, 2015 - 12:28am

Moved

Moved from Vinegar Flies. I don't think this is an acalyptrate fly. See, for example, the forked M vein.

… John F. Carr, 30 December, 2009 - 4:17pm

I don't know nothin' 'bout no veins

but if it isn't a fruit fly, that would explain why it looks different.

… R. Berg, 30 December, 2009 - 4:57pm

It's (almost) all about wing venation

...when it comes to IDing these puppies to genus :-) That and the hind tarsi. (Here's a wing venation diagram for platypezids, in case anyone's curious.)

Your photo shows the wing venation well, but the hind tarsi aren't discernible. (Don't suppose you might have gotten a shot showing relative lengths of the tarsal segments of the hind leg?)

A neat find R. I hope to see these sometime.

… Aaron Schusteff, 12 February, 2015 - 12:35am

No more images, sorry

My image file for that date doesn't have anything else for this specimen.

… R. Berg, 12 February, 2015 - 10:33am