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Photo#95231
Wicked spiny pupa

Wicked spiny pupa
Nashua, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA
January 10, 2007
Size: about 15 mm
Collected unknowingly Jan. 10, 2007. It was obviously inside one of the white-rotted aspen chunks full of E*ucnemid beet*le lar*vae I kept in a sealed plastic rearing container. I found it Feb. 10 wiggling around at the bottom of the container.

My guess is that this toothy, spiny creature is a fly larva. I found and photographed an empty pupal exoskeleton very similar to this last summer but never got around to posting it. It also came from a fungus-invested wood habitat.

I have this pupa in a container by itself so with luck we'll have an adult to identify if nobody can name the pupa.

(Use of asterisks prevents this image being shown in searches for those words.)

Images of this individual: tag all
Wicked spiny pupa Wicked spiny pupa Wicked spiny pupa

end of line
This pupa has died. All hopes are now pinned on the smaller one mentioned below.

I found another
similar larva from same batch of white-rotted aspen wood. Most likely it is the same sp. as this one. Photo:

Jim, This is a robber fly
Jim,

This is a robber fly pupa (Asilidae), of the subfamily Laphriinae; probably a Laphria sp. We'll wait for an adult - too learn more about its identity.

Eric

 
Laphriinae vs. Laphrinae
A google search yields 1,670 references for Laphrinae and 1,330 refs for Laphriinae. Is there disagreement among dipterists as to which is correct?

 
Jim, Laphriinae (double 'i
Jim,

Laphriinae (double 'i') is the correct form.

Eric

 
Okay, then bugguide is wrong.
However, I repeat: Is there widespread disagreement among dipterists as to which is correct?

Since instances of Laphrinae outnumber Laphriinae on the Internet it seems there must be loads of dipterists who are either ignorant or obstinate about the spelling.

 
Fixed --
The diptera site identified in the taxonomy forums as our guide also has the double ii (And who would disagree with Dr Fisher on Asilids??)

 
Thank you, Eric. Just for the record:
Dr. Eric M. Fisher
Senior Insect Biosystematist
Plant Pest Diagnostics
California Department of Food & Agriculture
3294 Meadowview Road
Sacramento, CA 95832-1448, USA

Research: systematics of Diptera, especially Asilidae and other Asiloidea.

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