Crumb
c/askbiologists · by sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works · 18d

Help ID this fruit fly. Looks like pumpkin fruitfly but the pattern on the rear is different

I have many pictures of two specimen (presumably a male and female)

The one with bent wing has this appendix which I think uses to penetrate my luffa fruit skin and lay its eggs or maybe that's the male's organ

Location: Indonesia

23 points · 8 comments · view on lemmy.world

8 Comments

thenextguy@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 18d (5 replies)

Pretty sure that's a wasp.

https://baliwildlife.com/photo-species/36546/

Edit: yeah, I'm wrong.

sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 18d (1 reply)

To me they look very different:

  1. The wasp in your picture has a very thin and long waist. in my picture its shorter and thicker.
  2. wasp's waist is thinner toward the thorax and wider toward abdomen, mine is opposite
  3. pattern on the abdomen doesn't match.
  4. this insect lay eggs in my luffa plant that grow into maggots, wasps don't have maggots in their life cycle.

There is already a fruitfly species that is very similar to my photos called pumpkin fruitfly but it's not an exact match

thenextguy@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 18d

Flies have very distinct eyes. I don't see those here. Mine was more of an example than an exact match.

LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 18d (2 replies)

I think the little vestigial wings mean it's a fly, right? Wasps should have another functional pair of wings instead. Sometimes it's hard to tell but I only see 2 here.

MML@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 18d (1 reply)

Yes, they are called halteres, just learned this today. Closest I could find was Dacus longicornis

sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 18d

That's actually a very good guess

comparing this: https://idtools.org/bactrocera/images/thumbnails/LLplate_Dacus_longicornis_variation.jpg

with this: https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/3ac57fca-a801-48ce-94a5-7d7e369c860b.jpeg

The colors in my picture are more yellow but that's it as far as I can see.

Also the fact its a luffa pest checks out.

Any reason why you think they are not the same?

Melonpoly@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 18d (1 reply)

Melon Fly?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactrocera_cucurbitae

sun_is_ra@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 18d

very similar but it doesn't have the elongated thin waist