|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 16, 2016 4:24:01 GMT
Hello everyone,
I registered here at your forum purely to ask for some help about identifying an insect which I have seen in my garden.
We live in the Philippines on an island.
I am originally from the UK and have always been interested and loved the outdoors and nature in general.
This particular insect really interested me because it appears to glow during the day, yes I know it sounds peculiar but it really has that appearance. it may however be that it has some white part of its body that it flashes?
I will describe it as best I can and the behaviour. The flys congregate in one area below a palm tree, there are typically i would say 20 to 30 of them. They stay within one area probably around a 4m square box they seem to buzz around together, as if they are having some kind of dogfight. The white glowing appears at times as if it is a show or display, it is not a constant thing, it also appears brighter when they seem more agitated.
I caught one of them and studied it close up, they look pretty much like fruit flies and I could see no white pattern on the fly. I have also filmed them and this specimin that I captured, although capturing the glowing on film is difficult.
I have emailed a few people trying to get some info but had no replies so though I would try here.
So is this something that exsist? my research online (albeit minimal) has found no mention of flies or glowing insect that appear during the daylight hours.
If anyone has any info or could direct me towards a good place where I could find more about this interesting insect it would be much appreciated.
Thank you for reading.
Kind regards, Chris
|
|
|
Post by nomad on Dec 16, 2016 6:46:49 GMT
I caught one of them and studied it close up, they look pretty much like fruit flies and I could see no white pattern on the fly. I have also filmed them and this specimin that I captured, although capturing the glowing on film is difficult. Any images ?
|
|
|
Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 16, 2016 8:26:40 GMT
inquisitor,
Welcome to the forum. I agree with nomad, a photo of a specimen, even if the glowing is not visible in it, would be very helpful in determining at least approximately what your fly is. It certainly sounds very interesting.
It would also be helpful if you can state which island you found them on, as the Philippines are very diverse from north to south and west to east.
Adam.
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 16, 2016 8:36:26 GMT
Hi guys thanks for the responses, I will look for the footage and/or try to get some more images in the next few days. Our place is in Cebu.
|
|
|
Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 16, 2016 17:03:46 GMT
Dick Vane-Wright once told me that Cebu City was filthy, and you had to walk carefully to avoid the human excrement. That was very many years ago, and I assume that things have improved a lot since then, but I did hear that the whole island has been pretty much totally deforested, sad if true.
I forgot to ask earlier, what approximate size are your 'fruit flies'? Here in Chiang Mai (not so far from you as the crow flies, but not very close) we have all sorts of different sized fruit flies. Perhaps you mean the golden fruit flies that often attack mango and other tropical fruit in SE Asia, such as Bactrocera correcta, rather than tiny Drosophila that many people would immediately think of when someone mentions "fruit flies". Bactrocera correcta is a bit less than a centimetre long, but there are many other species in the same genus (500 according to Wikipedia).
By the way I am not a Dipterist, so don't expect me to be able to identify your fly for you.
Adam.
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 17, 2016 9:49:02 GMT
Yes Adam, the deforestation started from the Spaniards in the 1500's there haven't been many naturaly forested areas in Cebu and many regions for hundreds of years. The south fares a bit better, particularly around Palawan etc but you probably know this already.
On the subject, I have no idea really if they are fruit flies I just thought the colour and shape somewhat resembled them. A kind of brown abdomen. I would estimate the size to be around 2 to 3 mm.
I actually observed the flies again today after some time since my previous time looking at them and I am almost convinced that they do glow. The white just seems too vivid. It looks like a very small LED.
I have found the footage on my camera and will upload it to youtube this evening if I have a moment.
|
|
|
Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 17, 2016 14:30:27 GMT
Are you sure this is a fly? Reading your first post again it sounds more like fireflies (actually beetles, family Lampyridae) except that these normally fly at night rather than in the daytime.
I am sure that it will be interesting to see the video footage on youtube, but if you can catch one and take a still photo that would be helpful.
Thanks for the interesting information about deforestation on Cebu island. I didn't realise that much of it was ancient history rather than the result of modern logging.
Adam.
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 19, 2016 14:41:06 GMT
Some pictures taken from paused images of the video I took, I released the specimen so didn't get a really clear shot of it. Its definitly not a beetle as you can see. Like I said the shape is certainly like any other fly. It reminded me of a fruit fly for some reason. These images are relevent because they really show the colour of the fly, its dark abdomen. There is no sign of white. The only other explanation I can think of is it has some kind of cover or wing that opens and shows a white patch? Although I am like a say almost convinced there is some bioluminescence. I got goose bumps the first time I witnessed it, quite sight really - it's the amateur scientist in me trying to find some other rational explanation! with wings open showing dark abdomen clearly showing a dark abdomen while cleaning wings.
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 19, 2016 14:45:13 GMT
Here is a link to the video showing the glowing - I had my hand in front of the camera to try and get the focus closer to the foreground.
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 19, 2016 14:48:08 GMT
its better to watch in youtube in higher resolution - look just above my thumb at 18 seconds
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 19, 2016 14:58:11 GMT
|
|
|
Post by Adam Cotton on Dec 19, 2016 17:38:23 GMT
When I tried to play both the videos I get a message on the screen "This video is private." I guess that you have to allow public access to the videos before we can see them.
Adam.
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 20, 2016 1:18:11 GMT
ok should be good to go now
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2016 5:12:02 GMT
Never seen anything like these flies, it seems strange they would be fluorescing in broad sunlight.
|
|
|
Post by inquisitor on Dec 20, 2016 7:04:07 GMT
Yes, its very unusual. The always seem to congregate in the shade of the palm trees.
|
|