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--Apple-Mail-25-1034858052 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Hi Steve, I took a look at the Dolichopodidae in the NS Museum collection (53 species) and there is nothing there that resembles the species in your photographs. There are some specimens of Hydophorus but they are all of a uniformly metallic colour and don't show the banded abdomen of the species in your photos. Clueless ... ;-> Chris On 3-Sep-06, at 7:28 PM, Stephen Shaw wrote: > Hi Chris and others, > A couple of weeks back we visited the cliffs at Halls Harbour and > again > encountered a distinctive, quite large, greenish banded dolichopodid > (Dolochopdidae, long-legged flies), and this time I took some > photos. The fly > is about 7 mm long, head to abdomen tip, is common and populates > only the fresh > water "seeps" that run out of the cliffs at frequent points. The > male has > wing-tips that are particularly distinctive (black with a small > round clear > "eyepot", and are presumably species-diagnostic (image 33, on site > below)). Apart from the occasional concertina-legged nematoceran > fly (may be a tipulid > but not identified), the only other obvious insects present in this > demanding > and species-poor habitat are bristletails. These are currently > common, but too > big in August to be the likely prey of this fly -- many dolichos > are predacious > on smaller insects. I also have some rather murky pics of dipteran > larvae up > to 15 mm long associated with the green filamentous algae in the > same water > seeps at the same time, that possibly could be larvae of the same > species. > > I've put two cropped photos of a live female dolicho on the cliff > face, and one > of a pinned male on the Flickr site below, and would appreciate a > guess at the > ID from Chris or anyone else who might have seen it before and is > reading this. > > If interested please take a look at the last 3 images I uploaded > (called 04), > 06) and 33)) on this site: > > www.flickr.com/photos/steve_1968 > > There are many species of _Hydrophorus_, a dolichopodid genus which > looks a > likely candidate, but I've not found an image on Bugguide.net or > elsewhere so > far that resembles this species. Has anyone noticed it before or > have any idea > as to the ID? > > Steve Shaw > Chocolate Lake, Halifax > _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. _. Christopher Majka - Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3A6 (902) 424-6435 Email <c.majka@ns.sympatico.ca> _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._. _. --Apple-Mail-25-1034858052 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 <HTML><BODY style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; = -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Hi Steve,<DIV><BR = class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span">I took a look at the=A0Dolichopodidae in the = NS Museum collection (53 species) and there is nothing there that = resembles the species in your photographs. There are some specimens of = <I>Hydophorus</I> but they are all of a uniformly metallic colour and = don't show the banded abdomen of the species in your = photos.=A0</SPAN></DIV><DIV><BR = class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span">Clueless ... ;-></SPAN></DIV><DIV><BR = class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Chris</DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV= >On 3-Sep-06, at 7:28 PM, Stephen Shaw wrote:</DIV><BR = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type=3D"cite"><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">Hi Chris and others,</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-converted-space">=A0</SPAN>A couple of weeks back we = visited the cliffs at Halls Harbour and again</DIV><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">encountered a distinctive, quite large, greenish = banded dolichopodid</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">(Dolochopdidae, long-legged = flies), and this time I took some photos.<SPAN = class=3D"Apple-converted-space">=A0 </SPAN>The fly</DIV><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">is about 7 mm long, head to abdomen tip, is common = and populates only the fresh</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">water "seeps" = that run out of the cliffs at frequent points. The male has</DIV><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">wing-tips that are particularly distinctive (black = with a small round clear</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">"eyepot", and = are presumably species-diagnostic (image 33, on site below)). Apart from = the occasional concertina-legged nematoceran fly (may be a = tipulid</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">but not identified), the only = other obvious insects present in this demanding</DIV><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">and species-poor habitat are bristletails.<SPAN = class=3D"Apple-converted-space">=A0 </SPAN>These are currently common, = but too</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">big in August to be the likely = prey of this fly -- many dolichos are predacious</DIV><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">on smaller insects.<SPAN = class=3D"Apple-converted-space">=A0 </SPAN>I also have some rather murky = pics of dipteran larvae up</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">to 15 mm long = associated with the green filamentous algae in the same water</DIV><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">seeps at the same time, that possibly could be = larvae of the same species.</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin