dancing kiss fly

Dancing kiss fly is an exotic signal fly. It is native to Europe and has been introduced into the United States. The first North American record is in Chicago in 2003. From that location it has spread throughout northeastern Illinois and into southeastern Wisconsin, and it has jumped to the Twin Cities metro area in Minnesota. Adults are found from May to October, low in vegetation, at forest edges and in hedges. They feed on flower nectar and pollen. Larvae probably feed on dead plant or animal matter, like most signal flies.

Adults are 3⁄16″ to ¼″ (5 to 7 mm) in length.

The head is large, higher than long, and yellowish-brown to blackish-brown. There are two large compound eyes at the side of the head and three small simple eyes (ocelli) in a triangle at the top of the head. The compound eyes are reddish-brown. They do not meet at the top of the head in either sex. The area between the ocelli (ocellar triangle) is black. There are no bristles on the front of the head. The upper face, corresponding to the forehead (frons) is black. The face is black and shiny with silvery-white hairs. There is a line of dense hairs on the orbits around the compound eyes, and a line of minute hairs from the ocellar triangle down the frons. The antennae are short and have three segments. The second segment does not have a longitudinal groove (suture). The third segment is rounded at the tip and has a short, forward-pointing bristle (arista) on the upper side. The collection of protruding mouthparts (proboscis) is reddish-brown and large. This is the feature that gives the family Platystomatidae, meaning “big mouth”, its common name.

The thorax is black and is scattered with areas of dense yellowish-brown hairs. It appears grayish-brown from a distance, mottled when seen close up. On the front of the thorax there are no propleural bristles, and on the underside there are no sternopleural bristles.

The abdomen is black and uniformly scattered with areas of dense white hairs. It appears grayish from a distance, mottled when seen close up.

The legs are mostly black. On the middle legs there is a row of black spines on the underside of the fourth segment (tibia). The last part of the leg, corresponding to the foot (tarsus) has five segments. On all legs the tarsi have yellowish areas and have short black spines on the underside.

The wings are dark brown to black with scattered, whitish, translucent (hyaline) areas, making them appear mottled. The anal cell is rounded at the tip. The vein on the leading edge of the wing (costal vein) is not broken near the end of the subcostal vein.

3⁄16″ to ¼″ (5 to 7 mm)

Forest edges, hedges

May to October

Dead plant or animal matter (probably)

Flower nectar and pollen

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Rare

on Bur Oak Leaf,

see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118963650

Platystoma seminationis
Ian Andrews

Platystoma seminationis
Lloyd Davies

Platystoma seminationis
Артем Полянчук

Platystoma seminationis - signalna muha
Butterfly

Fliege Platystoma Seminationis
Chrigu wälti

Vicki Bonk
5/30/2024

Location: Hennepin County

Mating

Bob Payton
5/27/2022

Location: South Minneapolis, Howe neighborhood

on Bur Oak Leaf,
see https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118963650