#shore fly

[miyrumiyru]

These cuties have white dots on their wings!

[drhoz]

#3843 - Diasemocera metallica - Metallic Black Pasture Fly

"Conspicuous antennae and metallic".

An unremarkable Shore Fly originally described by Frederick Wollaston Hutton, endemic to Aotearoa.

The Petroleum Fly, the only insect known to survive in pools of crude oil, was placed in this genus for a while but is now Helaeomyia petrolei.

Kaka Point, Aotearoa New Zealand

[drhoz]

#3435 - Ephydrella sp.

Commonly known as shore flies, or brine flies usually found near seashores or smaller inland waters. This one was at Lake Geogrup, an estuarine wetland south of Perth.

About 2,000 species have been described worldwide, including the petroleum fly, Helaeomyia petrolei, whose larvae live in naturally occurring crude petroleum, and the Alkali Fly Ephydra hians lives in vast number at Mono Lake and other alkaline lakes in the west of North America.

Lake Geogrup, S. of Perth.

[drhoz]

[drhoz]

[drhoz]

#1177 - Brachydeutera sydneyensis - Shore Fly

The only species of Ephydridae known to be widespread in Australia, where it perches on top of puddles, tidepools, and the like, sucking up bacteria and nutrients from the surface of the water, and casually buzzing away to the far end of the puddle when you try to take a photo. This one was swarming in two small puddles on Dingo Rock.

Ephydrids live and breed in some pretty extreme environments - the petroleum fly, Helaeomyia petrolei, is the only known insect whose larvae live in naturally occurring crude petroleum. Others live in sulphur springs, geysers, brine pools, and alkaline lakes, such as Ephydra hians which lives in vast number at Mono Lake. Other breed in huge numbers at sewage works, which can be a problem.

Most species feed on plants, or algae, or bacteria, but some are leaf miners and are fiercely carnivorous - Ochthera brine flies, for example, hunt midge larvae when they are larvae themselves, and hunt midges and mosquitoes after they grow up. At least one species has been observed digging midge larvae out of the sand, and holding them between raptorial forelimbs as they devour it.

[astronomy-to-zoology]

Genus: Ochthera

...a genus of shore flies (Ephydridae) sometimes known as "Mantis Flies"  than can be found worldwide, but are mainly restricted to the Old World. Ochthera spp. get their common name due to their distinctive swollen forelegs which resemble those of a mantis. Like a mantis Ochthera spp. are predaceous and will feed on other dipterans using their spiky mantis-like forelegs.

Classification

Animalia-Arthropoda-Insecta-Diptera-Ephydridae-Ochthera

Image: Shyamal