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- Robber flies of Germany -
[Key]      Catalogue      Comparisons      Notes      Terminology     

key

 -   Subfamilies
 -   Laphriinae
       Laphria

 

 

 

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  & copyright:
  Fritz Geller-Grimm
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Identification key to the Laphria-species

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Four species are recorded from Germany. The most common species is Laphria flava, which inhabits forests in all regions. Laphria vulpina is said to be distinguished from L. flava by the overall yellow hairs on the scutum, but there are many intermediate forms and the male terminalia of both species are identical so the L. vulpina is a questionable taxon. In addition, there are a number of southern European species, which are probably synonyms of L. flava. L. ephippium is a rare species and only distributed in old beech forests of the lower mountain ranges.
A table for comparison of taxa is provided on this CD-ROM.


1 a. Tergites with dark brown to black hairs [Fig. 1], [Fig. 2]
. . . . . . . . . . . . Laphria ephippium (Fabricius, 1781)
Fig. 1: Laphria ephippium: Abdomen - dorsal   Fig. 2: Laphria ephippium: Abdomen - lateral
1 b. Tergites not exclusively with dark hairs - yellow or white hairs present [Fig. 3], [Fig. 4]
. . . . . . . . . . . . to 2
Fig. 3: Laphria flava: Abdomen - lateral   Fig. 4: Laphria gibbosa: Abdomen - lateral

2 a. Scutum with only short hairs [Fig. 5]; tergites 1-3 with black, remaining tergites with appressed, long white hairs [Fig. 6]
. . . . . . . . . . . . Laphria gibbosa (Linnaeus, 1758)
Fig. 5: Laphria gibbosa: Scutum - lateral   Fig. 6: Laphria gibbosa: Abdomen - lateral
2 b. Scutum with long hairs posterior to transverse suture [Fig. 7]; tergites with erect, yellow hairs [Fig. 8]
. . . . . . . . . . . . to 3
Fig. 7: Laphria flava: Scutum - lateral   Fig. 8: Laphria flava: Abdomen - lateral

3 a. Head and legs with yellow and black or dark brown hairs [Fig. 9], [Fig. 10]
. . . . . . . . . . . . Laphria flava (Linnaeus, 1761)
Fig. 9: Laphria flava: Head - dorsal   Fig. 10: Laphria flava: hind leg - anterior
3 b. Body and legs exclusively with yellow hairs [Fig. 11], [Fig. 12]
. . . . . . . . . . . . Laphria vulpina Meigen, 1820
[questionable species]
Fig. 11: Laphria vulpina: dorsal   Fig. 12: Laphria vulpina: lateral

 

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