March Fly
Female, dorsal
Rutilia-mimicking Bristle Fly
Profile
| March Fly Female, dorsal | | Rutilia-mimicking Bristle Fly Profile | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | ||||
| Family: | Bristle Fly (Tachinidae) | ||||
| Species: | Rutilia-mimicking Bristle Fly (Anamastax cf sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍Dorsal🔎 | ||||
Thank you James Lumbers for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere ~13mm long. This is a very tentative id, and will most likely change if there is a revision of the group. When we asked James if he could confirm if this was Rutilia for us he said "Seems to key out to Anamastax (Exoristinae), from Crosskey 1973." "The shape of head/face in profile is a bit more convex than that of Rutilia (epistome not produced at all), and the eye takes up more of the head than in Rutilia." There are variations in the setae as well. He then gave us a handy cheat sheet "There are some important characters you can depend upon to instantly determine if something isn't Rutilia (or Rutiliini for that matter): if it doesn't have a well-developed facial carina (between the antennal insertions) it isn't Rutiliini. If the eyes are distinctly haired, clearly visible at the magnifcation in these photos, then it isn't even in the Dexiinae; there may possibly be a single isolated hair here or there, but never a 'stuble' of hairs, let alone a 'crew cut' appearance." Similar Species: Big Brown Bristle Fly (Rutilia sp ES01) : Massive Bristle Fly (Prodiaphania sp ES01) | |||||
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