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Celyphid Beetle Fly

Celyphus sp.

Photo by John B.
Published on Project Noah
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15.4557, 119.922

Field Notes

Description:

This spotting was supposed to show just the first three photos and you could be forgiven for thinking that they are all the same. My idea was to try and illustrate how the proboscis works when the Celyphid is eating, but I noticed that I had a reasonably good posterior view of one of these flies and decided to include it. Then I saw two more flies, further along the same branch and I wondered if they could be juvenile Celyphids as (at least on one of them), you can see what looks like a developing scutellum. I have not been able to uncover any information that might help with this. The life cycle of flies is well documented; eggs > larvae > pupae > adult flies. That's easy enough, but I can't find out if the adult flies are fully developed when they eclose from their pupae, or are they juveniles which develop into adults. So, the two "possible juveniles" have been included in my pictures. If anyone can help with advice on this, I would be very grateful.

Habitat:

These flies were all spotted in our front yard on a Pomelo Tree (Citrus maxima), locally known as Suha. This one is a small tree, growing in a big plant pot. The tree is mostly in good condition except for one branch (and the twigs growing from it) which have lost their leaves and are obviously dead. the thickest part of the branch, near the trunk, is dry and looks lifeless, but the twigs and the thinner end of the branch are slimy and rotting. I don't know if the flies caused this damage or were attracted to the already rotten plant material.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (12)

Fingers crossed...and thanks for letting me know. I really hope the count issue is sorted.
To: SukanyaDatta Good afternoon Sukanya, I am happy to tell you that I have received an email from Michael Sarril telling me that he is looking into the issue with my spottings tally. He said that I would hear from him again next week. I will, of course, keep you informed. Thank you again. John B.
I am sure the number issue will be resolved soon, but it has not been fixed just yet. I will let you know when it is working properly again. Thank you for the super fast way you handled this for me. It is very nice to get such first class treatment. John B.
I am sure the numbering/count issue is solved...and happy to have put you in touch with Michael Sarill....
Good afternoon Sukanya, my goodness, you certainly don't hang around. I was astonished to receive an email from Michael Sarill, just a few minutes ago. So, of course, I answered it immediately and I feel sure that he will fix the problem for me. I will advise you of the outcome, as soon as I know. I just hope it is not something that I have caused by some dreadful error. Best regards and thank you again. John B.
Good morning Sukanya, Thank you very much for giving such prompt attention to my technical problem. I am always reluctant to burden rangers with such things. I am sure that you are quite busy enough looking after thousands of Project Noah members every day and it seems rather selfish to impose on you in this way. I look forward to the outcome of your enquiries. Thanks again. John B.
Good morning Mark, Thank you for your comment. It's always nice to hear from you. John B.
Hi John, Since I am technologically quite challenged myself...let me pose this question to the Admins and my other Ranger friends. I will revert, the moment they tell me something.. BTW, this spotting of yours...is REALLY something!
Good afternoon Sukanya, I hope you do not mind my using the Comment box to ask you for some advice about Project Noah. In recent days, in our area, there have been numerous power outages caused by some serious weather events. I have a generator, but there is always a gap before it comes on and provides electricity. Two or three days ago, there was an outage when I was online to PN. So, there was an interruption which may have caused the problem I am experiencing. When I open my spottings page, I see the thumbnails of all my spottings which, at present total exactly 675. The problem is the "Wildlife Spottings" total is shown as 676. This may seem like a small problem, but I like to be methodical and keep details of all my work in a ledger. I would not want to go back in two or three months and make a great number of corrections. I would mention that when I open my spottings page using "http://" rather than "https://", I can see any drafts which I may have overlooked. Then I can delete them, but there is nothing like that showing up on my spottings page at present. Can you please advise me on how to rectify this anomaly. I apologise for burdening you because of my lack of knowledge of modern technology. John B.
Good evening Sukanya, thank you for your comment. It is always nice to hear from you. Yes, these Celyphids are strange little creatures and I have become quite interested in them. However, they seem to have been rather neglected. Most of the websites, which deal with them, say that they have not been adequately studied. So, for me its just a matter of picking up little scraps of information here and there to help keep me on the right track. Regards, John B.
I have NEVER seen anything like this before. WOW.
Photographed
PublishedNovember 1, 2022

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