Christii fly

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Christii fly
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Diptera
Family: Scatopsidae
Genus: Ectaetia
Species: E. christii
Binomial name
Ectaetia christii
Rotheray & Horsfield, 1997

The Christii fly (Ectaetia christii) is a fly species named after the late Iain Christie, a farmer and amateur entomologist from Dunbartonshire. It measures 2 mm (1⁄12 in) long and is black in colour.[1] Christii flies live under the bark of smaller branches or twigs of dead aspen trees.[2]

[edit] Discovery

Iain Christie originally discovered the Christii fly with several others in the late 1980s, but the fly was not recognised as a new species until 1997, during a survey of the flora and fauna of the Cairngorms.[3] The research was conducted for the book The Nature Of The Cairngorms, which includes 223 species mainly found there and 1,153 further species for which the Cairngorms are nationally noted.[1] Graham Rotheray of the Museum of Scotland and Dave Horsfield of Scottish Natural Heritage found the Christii fly under the bark of a decaying aspen tree near Grantown-on-Spey.[4] Since then, it has been found in Norway and two or three more times in the Cairngorms.[1]

Rotheray described the Christii fly as "a superb example of a boreal species which has lain undiscovered in Scotland for thousands of years" and "a specialist species which adapted and probably came north with the retreat of the ice".[4] He also believed the fly to be a relic from the ice age.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Ross, John. "Welcome on the hillside for new fly", The Scotsman, 2006-06-13. 
  2. ^ "New species discovered in the Cairngorms", The Scotsman, 2006-06-12. 
  3. ^ Kemp, Tina. "Family's pride as new fly is named after Iain", The Lennox, 2006-06-23. 
  4. ^ a b "New mountain species discovered", BBC News, 2006-06-12. 
  5. ^ Smith, Lewis. "Ice Age fly discovered alive and well in Scotland", The Times, 2006-06-13. 

[edit] External links