Sawfly mimic? Soldier fly [Beris vallata]

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 4:41 pm

Is there such a thing? Or is it just a passing resemblance?

At a cursory glance when I caught this I presumed it was something like a rose sawfly, I've always assumed these orange tailed beasties about this big were sawflies, every one I've checked out closely has been in the past, but this one turned out to be a fly!

Quick stack for ID help! - 14 slices at f8 on OM38/2.8 at minimum bellows extension.

Headshot showing dipteran antenna and mouthparts

100 slices with Nikon 10x/0.30 CF-N. Zerene PMAX.

And to be absolutely sure here's a haltere

Some clever/not clever selective focus from 127 slices taken with Nikon 10x/0.30 CF-N. Zerene PMAX

Any tips on ID hugely appreciated, none of my books have anything like this, and I'm not having any luck with google.

The only thing I'm thinking is soldier fly of some kind as I've seen very similar antennae on one but that's a wild guess...

Eric F · Post by **Eric F** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:26 pm

Very nice fly Laurie! Definitely a soldier fly (Stratiomyiidae); I showed your images to my friend Martin Hauser (an expert on this family, plus other kinds of flies too...), who informed me it is Beris vallata.

Cheers,

Eric

lauriek · Post by **lauriek** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 4:43 am

Many thanks for the info Eric, and the kind words! It's lovely to get a positive species ID for a change...

Gérard-64 · Post by **Gérard-64** » Wed Jul 13, 2011 8:49 am

As usual...nice pictures Lauriek!