{"id":1190,"date":"2019-08-17T13:35:25","date_gmt":"2019-08-17T13:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?p=1190"},"modified":"2020-08-01T09:45:25","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T09:45:25","slug":"how-to-split-tachina-fera-type-tachinids-in-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/how-to-split-tachina-fera-type-tachinids-in-photos\/","title":{"rendered":"How to split Tachina fera type tachinids in photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One of the most difficult problems is how to confirm\/verify the identification of photos of flies that look quite like <em>Tachina fera<\/em>. I&#8217;d include in that group any of the following species: <em>Tachina fera, Tachina magnicornis, Nowickia ferox, Linnaemya vulpina, Peleteria rubescens, Peleteria iavana <\/em>&amp; male <em>Nemoraea pellucida<\/em>. They&#8217;re all fairly large, bristly flies with a brown thorax and orange-sided abdomen and in this article I&#8217;ll try to knock them down one by one by removing the easiest first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a very basic draft key that should help when identifying from photos but treat with care as it is just a first draft. Send me comments if you agree or disagree:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Hairy eyes?<ul><li>Protruding mouth edge, slim-bodied fly, usually found on heathland = <strong><em>Linnaemya vulpina<\/em><\/strong> [common on heathland]<\/li><li>Flat face profile, slightly smaller head than usual, very wide abdomen, hairy calyptrae (but this is hard to spot) = <strong><em>Nemoraea pellucida<\/em><\/strong> [very rare in southern England &#8211; few modern records]<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Bare eyes?<ul><li>Black legs, sometimes with a slightly paler tibia?<ul><li>Two strong black &#8220;Peleteria&#8221; bristles on the lower parafacial area; body ground colour basically dark brown; abdominal mid-stripe fairly parallel sided?<ul><li>Second antennal segment orange; strong dusting across most of each tergite; reddish-orange abdominal side patches = <strong><em>Peleteria iavana<\/em><\/strong> [was called <em>varia<\/em>, restricted to the Channel Isles]<\/li><li>Second antennal segment dark\/black; weak dusting on the posterior of each tergite; abdominal side patches distinctly orange = <em><strong>Peleteria rubescens<\/strong><\/em>  [very rare in southern England &#8211; few modern records] <\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Lower parafacial bare; body &amp; leg ground colour dark black; abdominal mid-stripe usually jagged and made from distinct overlapping black diamonds = <strong><em>Nowickia ferox<\/em><\/strong> [common in southern England]<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Orange or light brown legs?<ul><li>fore tarsus brown\/orange; frons generally narrower (M 0.68-1.08x, F 0.94-1.28x one eye); abdominal mid-stripe tapers towards the end of the abdomen;  males: fore tarsal claws as long as the last 2 tarsal segments &amp; usually without any outer orbital bristles (rarely 1)  = <strong><em>Tachina fera<\/em><\/strong> [very common across the UK] <\/li><li>fore tarsus black\/brown; frons wider (M 1.10-1.39x, in F 1.27-1.55x one eye); abdominal mid-stripe widens towards the end of the abdomen;  male fore tarsal claws shorter than last 2 tarsal segments &amp; 1-2 outer orbital bristles present = <em><strong>Tachina magnicornis<\/strong><\/em> [restricted to the Channel Isles]<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The most difficult splits are still between the very similar <em>Tachina <\/em>species but I think these will always be difficult. You only have to examine DNA barcodes of these species to notice that they are often wrongly identified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can also be a bit tricky to split <em>Peleteria rubescens<\/em> from <em>Tachina fera\/magnicornis<\/em> where the insect&#8217;s face is obscured and the legs are fairly pale or obscured. I&#8217;ve noticed that in this case the <em>Peleteria <\/em>tend to have heads that are ever so slightly wider than the thorax and the abdomen isn&#8217;t much wider than the thorax; while the <em>Tachina <\/em>have narrower heads and wider abdomens. Also the <em>Peleteria <\/em>tend to have whiter\/greyer thorax dusting on a slate-grey\/black ground colour, while the <em>Tachina <\/em>dusting is yellowish-brown on a dark brown ground colour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nWhat follows is a little gallery of open-access images to help you visualise the features I&#8217;ve used above.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nowickia-ferox-Martin-Cooper.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1191\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1191\" class=\"wp-image-1191\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nowickia-ferox-Martin-Cooper.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nowickia-ferox-Martin-Cooper-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nowickia-ferox-Martin-Cooper-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nowickia-ferox-Martin-Cooper-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nowickia-ferox-Martin-Cooper-400x400.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Nowickia ferox &#8211; Martin Cooper<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"531\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1192\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1192\" class=\"wp-image-1192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-768x510.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-400x266.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Tachina fera &#8211; Thomas Bresson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"496\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1193\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1193\" class=\"wp-image-1193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-2.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-2-300x186.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-2-768x476.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-2-150x93.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Thomas-Bresson-2-400x248.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Tachina fera &#8211; Thomas Bresson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"570\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Luc-Viatour.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1194\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1194\" class=\"wp-image-1194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Luc-Viatour.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Luc-Viatour-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Luc-Viatour-768x547.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Luc-Viatour-150x107.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-fera-Luc-Viatour-400x285.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Tachina fera &#8211; Luc Viatour<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"585\" height=\"600\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Roland-Gromes.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1195\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1195\" class=\"wp-image-1195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Roland-Gromes.jpg 585w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Roland-Gromes-293x300.jpg 293w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Roland-Gromes-146x150.jpg 146w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Roland-Gromes-400x410.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Tachina magnicornis &#8211; Roland Gromes<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"595\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Dick-Belgers.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1196\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1196\" class=\"wp-image-1196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Dick-Belgers.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Dick-Belgers-300x223.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Dick-Belgers-768x571.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Dick-Belgers-150x112.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Tachina-magnicornis-Dick-Belgers-400x298.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Tachina magnicornis &#8211; Dick Belgers<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"505\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya-vulpina-Janet-Graham.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1197\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1197\" class=\"wp-image-1197\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya-vulpina-Janet-Graham.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya-vulpina-Janet-Graham-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya-vulpina-Janet-Graham-768x485.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya-vulpina-Janet-Graham-150x95.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya-vulpina-Janet-Graham-400x253.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Linnaemya vulpina &#8211; Janet Graham<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya_vulpina-AfroBrazilian.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1198\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1198\" class=\"wp-image-1198\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya_vulpina-AfroBrazilian.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya_vulpina-AfroBrazilian-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya_vulpina-AfroBrazilian-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya_vulpina-AfroBrazilian-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Linnaemya_vulpina-AfroBrazilian-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Linnaemya vulpina &#8211; AfroBrazilian<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"599\" height=\"600\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nemoraea-pellucida-male-Hectonichus.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1199\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1199\" class=\"wp-image-1199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nemoraea-pellucida-male-Hectonichus.jpg 599w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nemoraea-pellucida-male-Hectonichus-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nemoraea-pellucida-male-Hectonichus-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Nemoraea-pellucida-male-Hectonichus-400x401.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Nemoraea pellucida (male) &#8211; Hectonichus<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/31985544476_4c1f44f1b1_o-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1206\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1206\" class=\"wp-image-1206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/31985544476_4c1f44f1b1_o-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/31985544476_4c1f44f1b1_o-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/31985544476_4c1f44f1b1_o-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/31985544476_4c1f44f1b1_o-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/31985544476_4c1f44f1b1_o-400x300.jpg 400w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/31985544476_4c1f44f1b1_o.jpg 1033w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Nemoraea pellucida &#8211; Rui Andrade<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"670\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-varia-unknown.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1200\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1200\" class=\"wp-image-1200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-varia-unknown.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-varia-unknown-300x251.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-varia-unknown-768x643.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-varia-unknown-150x126.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-varia-unknown-400x335.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Peleteria iavana &#8211; unknown<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"980\" height=\"735\" src=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-rubescens-Rui-Andrade.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1201\" data-link=\"http:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/?attachment_id=1201\" class=\"wp-image-1201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-rubescens-Rui-Andrade.jpg 980w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-rubescens-Rui-Andrade-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-rubescens-Rui-Andrade-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-rubescens-Rui-Andrade-150x113.jpg 150w, https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Peleteria-rubescens-Rui-Andrade-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 980px) 100vw, 980px\" \/><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-item__caption\">Peleteria rubescens &#8211; Rui Andrade<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most difficult problems is how to confirm\/verify the identification of photos of flies that look quite like Tachina fera. I&#8217;d include in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1190"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1338,"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190\/revisions\/1338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tachinidae.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}