[Enter Post Title Here] Update On-The-Fly Situation: I was hanging over the weekend so the specimen would not be lying and is on couriers office with a high likelihood of the damage. It's a good thing I did hang off as I've found another fly exactly the same as the first one. After doing some research it seems to me both these flies could be Chrysanthrax dispar. Photo#124305

Copyright © 2007 Scott Nelson Unknown Small Bee Fly - Chrysanthrax dispar Three Lakes Wilderness Area, Osceola County, Florida, USA July 3, 2007 Size: 5 - 6 mm tag • login or register to post comments Contributed by Scott Nelson on 4 July, 2007 - 4:44pm Last updated 29 August, 2009 - 11:54am I don't know whether these are endemic to New Zealand or have somehow passed border control, we have a shipping port not very far from us. It will be interesting to see what the answer the Department of conservation come up with. I am hoping to get this specimen away tomorrow, so now it is just a matter of time.

That dang fly again – nand then there were two. I was hanging over the weekend so the specimen would not be lying and is on couriers office with a high likelihood of the damage. It's a good thing I did hang off as I've found another fly exactly the same as the first one. After doing some research it seems to me both these flies could be Chrysanthrax dispar. Photo#124305 Copyright © 2007 Scott Nelson Unknown Small Bee Fly - Chrysanthrax dispar Three Lakes Wilderness Area, Osceola County, Florida, USA July 3, 2007 Size: 5 - 6 mm tag • login or register to post comments Contributed by Scott Nelson on 4 July, 2007 - 4:44pm Last updated 29 August, 2009 - 11:54am I don't know whether these are endemic to New Zealand or have somehow passed border control, we have a shipping port not very far from us. It will be interesting to see what the answer the Department of conservation come up with. I am hoping to get this specimen away tomorrow, so now it is just a matter of time.

It just goes to show even amateurs can still make scientific contributions . The other day I had just taken a break and on returning to my desk found a house fly sitting on my mouse as if still alive. The creature however did not seem alarmed by my reappearance so I became curious and examined it more intimately. It was most decidedly dead but the unusual thing was I had never seen a fly like it. The front end was that of a normal house fly, but the abdomen was entirely different it was striped black and white in a not unattractive manner. The wings also appeared shorter than the ordinary house fly.

I decided this justified further investigating and put the specimen under the microscope for a more detailed view . The stripes were unquestionably part of the thorax, although the poor beast had some kind of fungal infection , which had obviously infiltrated its whole-body, as threads were sticking out between in the abdominal platelets, the white nevertheless showed as platelets themselves.

Not having adequate knowledge in this field I contacted an entomologist with the Department of Conservation, David Voice, On scrutiny of the photographs he said it would take a while for them to get back to me. The following day I received an e-mail from Mr Voice indicating that this fly did express some anomalousness and could I please dispatch it to his department for further scrutiny and analysis. The specimen is now what I hopefully is packed in a safe and protected manner and ready to send to Mr Voice for further recognition and analysis. As any results come through I will keep the blog updated.