About Longlegged Flies
Longlegged Flies Dolichopodidae are small to minute with bright metallic colors, mostly green or bronze. Adult Dolichopodid feed on smaller soft body insects such as aphids. Larvae are usually found in moist soil and under tree bark. They are either scavengers or predators of other insects larvae.
Common Green Longlegged Fly
This Longlegged Fly was identified by the Australian Museum as most likely to be the male Chrysosoma leucopogon, a widespread Oriental-Australasian tramp species which reaches Brisbane. It has the brown ring (callus) near the base of tibia III, and the last several tarsomeres at the apex leg 1 are distinctly white (evident in this photo), which is diagnostic for this species.
Photo: Robert Whyte
Green Longlegged Fly
Green Longlegged Fly Austrosciapus connexus is in the subfamily Sciapodinae, body length 6 mm. A brightly metallic coloured fly, with a thin body and long legs. Wings are transparent, with black opaque markings towards the tips. The fly has an overall green colouring and a black striped abdomen. These flies are like pretty jewels. This one was moving from place to place on a fig, perhaps looking for aphids or other small prey. In the paper, “The Sciapodinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae) of Australia (including Lord Howe, Norfolk, Cocos-Keeling and Christmas Islands)” these animals are treated in detail, and 253 species, 208 newly described, are illustrated and keyed. Full reference below. The species identification of Austrosciapus connexus on this is not entirely certain, as the specimen is female and there are four other species, A. triangulifer, A. fraudulosus, A. proximus & A. bifarius with a similar wing pattern, although A. proximus is south-eastern Australia and introduced to New Zealand, and A. bifarius is from monsoonal northern Australia. As always, males are required for accurate identification. However, Austrosciapus connexus is the commonest of them, and found in backyards, gardens, as well as wilder country. More information can be found in Australian Sciapodinae – DANIEL J. BICKEL – The Australian Sciapodinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae), with a Review of the Oriental and Australasian Faunas, and a World Conspectus of the Subfamily DANIEL J. BICKEL Records of the Australian Museum (1994) Supplement 21. ISBN 0 7310 4133 X.
Photographed in a suburban garden, in The Gap, Brisbane on Wednesday, 2 January 2008. Photo: Robert Whyte
Photo: Robert Whyte
Photo: Robert Whyte
Photo: Robert Whyte
Dan Bickel writes that this is recognisably a male “note the squarish apex of the abdomen (while females generally have a tapering, cigar shaped abdomen) and the distinctive cercel flap of this species, which can be distinguished looking through the wing.” Photo: Robert Whyte
MacAlpine’s Longlegged Fly
MacAlpine’s Longlegged Fly Krakatauia macalpinei in the subfamily Sciapodinae named and in this instance identified by Dan Bickel, the Dolichopodid expert, at the Australian Museum. This species is characteristic of littoral rainforest from northern NSW to at least Eurimbula, Queensland. The wings are quite dark, and the body is rather hairy.
Photo: Robert Whyte
Banded Longlegged Fly
The Banded Longlegged Fly Amblypsilopus zonatus is found in coastal habitats from South Coast NSW to South-East Queensland and Lord Howe Island. This one was photographed at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island, a bit of a stretch from the Enoggera Catchment but too pretty to leave out.
Photo: Robert Whyte
