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Project Noah Nature School
Heteropsilopus cingulipes
A small fly with striking metallic green thorax, abdomen and eyes. About 12mm long.
On euclayptus leaf in suburban parkland.
The Long Legged Flies are the family Dolichopodidae. Male.
Spotted on Nov 6, 2012
Submitted on Nov 6, 2012
6 Comments
I am glad you were able to narrow it down, Argy! I agree with your ID as well, it looks very much like Rachael's spotting and the references you have supplied make sense. These little guys can be so challenging, especially with scarce reference material.
My initial suggestion was made from info that said Chrysosoma leucopogon is know to be a "tramp species" in Australia. That being said, I have no idea how common or in what regions they occur. I wasn't able to find any other good resources for Long-legged Flies in Australia with images to compare the two.
Nice, I like your current ID. I have 2 shots on my spotting that are different colours - I think it was more the angle and light rather than different species (must try and make a note of that next time I see them though). All shots seem to be of males like forestdragon pointed out with the shape of the abdomen.
ForestDragon I've had to look at species which are known in southern Australia. Chrysosoma leucopogon is found in the tropical areas - http://bie.ala.org.au/species/Chrysosoma... Rachael my current ID is based partly upon what is likely referring to http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:b... plus the fact that they are observing it in Tasmania. L and I are still debating this one as she has what looks structurally the same but slightly more bronze abdomen. I'm not certain how important the shading is as it obviously varies somewhat with lighting and angles. Got any thoughts on that?
Hey Argy, I have a similar spotting: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/157...
and found this pic on the net suggesting Chrysosoma pseudocallosum and C. callosum: http://www.flickr.com/photos/32977858@N0...
I haven't been able to find much info on these two though - any thoughts?
That's great info thanks ForestDragon.
Hi Argy, I can tell you this is a male. The males have differently shaped abdomens than the females (generally more narrow and the end of it folds under).
Austrosciapus connexus has black markings on the wings so I do not believe it is that species.
It looks more like Chrysosoma leucopogon to me.
I found a bit of info here:
http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01...
I haven't found much more but I hope this helps.