update on phorid identification

One reader of my blog ““Zombie flies” are not in Saudi Arabia (at least, not yet)” , wrote me a private message, disagreeing that an unequivocal identification of Megaselia scalaris could be made, based on the published figure “C” in that paper. Technically, this reader is correct that one could theoretically assemble a group of other Megaselia that would be indistinguishable from M. scalaris based on this photo. The context is important, however, as M. scalaris is abundant in dead insects and frequently found in dead honey bees (I have seen this association from dead honey bees many times from various parts of the world). Thus, what I should have written is that based on the incomplete photo and the situation where the flies were found, it is almost certain that they are M. scalaris.

One comment on “update on phorid identification

  1. Emily Hartop says:

    I think this is an important clarification Brian, thank you! For every instance where Megaselia scalaris gets identified as something else, there are likely more times that some OTHER phorids get called Megaselia scalaris. Including this other information on your identification is critical so we don’t encourage others to called every yellow phorid they see scalaris! That photo C is so terrible, I would never venture a guess based on it (same with photos in the paper from your other post).

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