<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><DIV>Hi Ximo :</DIV>
<DIV> Good close ups but what is the "mystery" about a 'hole' ?? The syrphid is just extending its dark proboiscis and cleaning (?) it with its front legs. </DIV>
<DIV> When am I going to hear from you in reply by e-mail ? CHeers.</DIV>
<DIV>KUMAR<BR><BR><FONT face="times new roman"><STRONG>Dr Kumar Ghorpade</STRONG>, B.Sc.(Agri.), M.Sc., Ph.D. (Entomol.). <BR>Smithsonian Institution (U.S.A.) Postdoctoral Fellow (1982-1983) researching Oriental Syrphidae, Sciomyzidae and Ephydridae (Diptera). <BR><STRONG>Currently:</STRONG> Post-Graduate Teacher & Research Associate in Systematic Entomology, Department of Agricultural Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Krishi Nagar, Dharwar 580 005, Karnataka (INDIA). <BR><STRONG>Postal address:</STRONG> P.O. Box 221, K.C. Park Post Office, Dharwar 580 008, INDIA.</FONT><FONT face=verdana> </FONT><BR><BR>--- On <B>Thu, 12/5/11, ximo mengual sanchis <I><xmengual@gmail.com></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid"><BR>From: ximo mengual sanchis <xmengual@gmail.com><BR>Subject: [Syrphidae] Re: syrphid developmental defect? or visual efect?<BR>To: "Hoverfly discussion list" <syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk><BR>Date: Thursday, 12 May, 2011, 7:15 PM<BR><BR>
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<DIV>Thanks Jean-Pierre,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I also answered something similar to him: "my guess is that is an artifact. When the fly opens the mouth, some muscle behind the integument moves and creates a dark spot in the inner side of the face... and that movement creates the vision of a hole".</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I just wante to know if I was right thinking it is an artifact of the pictures, or somebody has seen something similar.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best regards,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ximo</DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><BR><BR> </DIV>
<DIV class=yiv278237022gmail_quote>2011/5/12 Jean-Pierre SARTHOU <SPAN dir=ltr><<A href="http://in.mc1374.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sarthou@ensat.fr" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:sarthou@ensat.fr">sarthou@ensat.fr</A>></SPAN><BR>
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<DIV>Dear Ximo,<BR><BR>According to me, there is nothing so odd: this "hole" is simply caused by the wet and dark proboscis, when pulled up into to buccal cavity, it (or more precisely the membrane which links it to the head tegument) touches the face tegument (which is more or less transluscent) inside and leads to this dark patch on the knob. <BR>I hope that it is nothing more complicated than that!<BR><BR>Best regards,<BR>Jean-Pierre<BR><BR><BR>Le 12/05/2011 03:37, ximo mengual sanchis a écrit :
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<DIV class=yiv278237022h5>Dear friends,<BR><BR>I'm not a big fan of these things but this forum has an interesting gif image (animated picture). My friend Keith sent me the link of a flower fly (Epistrophe eligans) with a weird "visual efect". There appears to be a mobile hole in the fly's face that opens when it moves its proboscis, the gif is mesmerizing and a little grotesque. What do you think caused this?<BR>
<DIV class=yiv278237022gmail_quote> <BR><A href="http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1005789" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1005789</A><BR><BR><BR>Best regards,<BR><BR>Ximo<BR><BR></DIV><BR clear=all><BR>-- <BR>******************************************************** <BR>Dr. Ximo Mengual <BR>Department of Entomology<BR>Smithsonian Institution<BR>PO Box 37012, MRC-0169<BR>Rm CE-607<BR>Washington, D.C. 20013-7012<BR>Phone: +1 (202) 633-1004<BR>e-mail: <A href="http://in.mc1374.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mengualj@si.edu" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:mengualj@si.edu">mengualj@si.edu</A><BR><A href="http://entomology.si.edu/StaffPages/MengualJ.html" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://entomology.si.edu/StaffPages/MengualJ.html</A><BR> <BR>For FEDEX:<BR>Smithsonian Institution<BR>National Museum of Natural History (NHB)<BR>Department of Entomology<BR>10th & Constitution NW<BR>Phone: +1
(202) 633-1004<BR>Washington, DC 20560-0169 <BR><BR></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 9px; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; TEXT-ALIGN: right"><FONT color=#666666>INP-ENSAT<BR>Avenue de l'Agrobiopole<BR>BP 32607<BR>31326 Castanet-Tolosan Cedex<BR><A href="http://www.ensat.fr/" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://www.ensat.fr</A><BR></FONT></DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></DIV></DIV><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Syrphidae mailing list<BR><A href="http://in.mc1374.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk" target=_blank rel=nofollow ymailto="mailto:Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk">Syrphidae@lists.nottingham.ac.uk</A><BR><A href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/syrphidae</A><BR><BR>This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it.
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ymailto="mailto:mengualj@si.edu">mengualj@si.edu</A><BR><A href="http://entomology.si.edu/StaffPages/MengualJ.html" target=_blank rel=nofollow>http://entomology.si.edu/StaffPages/MengualJ.html</A><BR> <BR>For FEDEX:<BR>Smithsonian Institution<BR>National Museum of Natural History (NHB)<BR>Department of Entomology<BR>10th & Constitution NW<BR>Phone: +1 (202) 633-1004<BR>Washington, DC 20560-0169 <BR></DIV><BR>-----Inline Attachment Follows-----<BR><BR>
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