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| | Signal Flies - Family Platystomatidae
- This page contains pictures and information about Signal
Flies that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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 - Body length 12mm
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- Most flies in this family feed on mammalian faeces. Their larvae habits are
varied. Some lives in plant trunk damaged by other insects or fungi.
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- They are medium in size, usually there are at least some dots or patterns
on wings.
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- The Signal Flies are usually found on tree trunks or on leaves where may be
a place for courtship, sometimes a few of them were found at the same point.
While walking on those surface, Signal Flies exhibit a characteristic manner
of movement, something like dancing in our human eyes. Those movements include
rowing or extend of wings, waving of front pair of legs, move forwards and
backwards, extend and raise of proboscis.
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- This group of flies contains the spectacular species, the stalk-eyed signal
flies. The males have eyes on long stalks extending from either side of their
heads. However, we never found them in Brisbane.
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- Orange-blue Signal Fly
 - Lamprogaster bicolor, body length
10mm
- We saw a few of this flies dancing on gum tree trunk. Pictures were taken
in Karawatha Forest during mid summer. Head and throax of the fly are orange
colour with abdomen in dark metallic blue. Wings are patterned with black
spots, leading edge and wing base are orange. Legs are pale orange in colour.
Please check this page for more
information.
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- Orange-green Signal Fly
  - Lamprogaster rugifacies, body length 8mm
- Head and throax of this fly are orange colour with abdomen in metallic
green. Wings are patterned with black spots, leading edge and wing base are
orange. Legs are black in colour. Please
also check this page for more
information.
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- Green Signal Fly
  - Lamprogaster imperialis, body length 8mm
- Abdomen and throax of this fly are metallic green, with red eyes on black
head. Wings are patterned with black spots, leading edge and wing base are
pale orange. Legs are also pale orange in colour. We have more pictures
and information in this page.
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- Brown Signal Fly
 - ? Euxestomoea sp., body length 8mm
- We saw those flies near Bulimba Creek in Wishart on early summer Oct
2007. There were a number of them there on a large tree trunk. Some of them
were courting. The courting pair were facing each other, sometimes with tongue
touching. There are many more pictures in this page.
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- Banded Signal Fly
 - Euprosopia armipes or E. anostigma, body length 12mm
- The fly is pale brown in colour with brown banded patterns on wings and
abdomen. Eyes and all legs are Brown as well.
Picture is taken in Alexandra Hill, mid summer.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p769.
- 2. The Australian Platystomatidae (Diptera, Schizophora) with a revision of five genera -
McAlpine, D.K., 1972, The Australian Museum, p175-177.
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p770.
- 2. The Australian Platystomatidae (Diptera, Schizophora) with a revision of five genera -
McAlpine, D.K., 1972, The Australian Museum.
- 3. Review of the Australasian Genera of Signal Flies (Diptera: Platystomatidae) - DAVID K. MCALPINE, Records of the Australian Museum 53(2): 113–199.
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