Description: First the female fly "danced" on the thistle and after a while she pierced the thistle, later the male fly slowly approached and.. (I am not sure if she injected eggs already? i.e. befor and after copula? ) Phylum: Arthropoda LATREILLE, 1829 (arthropods, Gliederfüßer) Subphylum: Hexapoda BLAINVILLE, 1816 Class: Insecta (insects, Insekten) Subclass: Pterygota (Fluginsekten) Infraclass: Neoptera MARTYNOV, 1923 Order: Diptera LINNAEUS, 1758 (true flies, mosquitoes and gnats, Zweiflügler) Suborder: Brachycera SCHINER, 1862 Infraorder: Muscomorpha [Syn.: Cyclorrhapha] Superfamily: Tephritoidea Family: Tephritidae MACQUART, 1835 (fruit flies, Frucht- oder Bohrfliegen) Subfamily: Tephritinae Tribus: Myopitini HENDEL, 1927 Genus: Urophora ROBINEAU-DESVOIDY, 1830 Urophora stylata FABRICIUS, 1775 (Spear Thistle Gall Fly, Bohrfliege) some info:
www.naturespot.org.uk/species/urophora-stylata host plant: mainly Cirsium vulgare (Gemeine Kratzdiestel) rarely Cirsium arvense (Creeping Thistle, Acker-Kratzdiestel) Germany, N-Hessen, Kassel: Döche, 180-200m asl., 18.07.2013 IMG_1813. Date: 18 July 2013, 20:33. Source:
Urophora stylata (Tephritidae) - Bull Thistle Gall Fly. Author:
gbohne from Berlin, Germany. Camera location
51° 17′ 21.74″ N, 9° 26′ 13.19″ E View all coordinates using:
OpenStreetMap 51.289372; 9.436998.