Urophora stylata (Fabricius, 1775)
(Spear-thistle Gall-fly)

Taxonomic hierarchy:
SpeciesUrophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
GenusUrophora (a genus of gall flies)
FamilyTEPHRITIDAE (gall-flies, greater fruit flies)
SuperfamilyTEPHRITOIDEA (lance and picture-wing flies)
InfraorderSchizophora - Acalyptratae (an infraorder of flies)
OrderDIPTERA (two-winged flies)
Division Endopterygota (bees, beetles, flies, moths and other insects with wings developing internally)
InfraclassNeoptera (bees, beetles, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other advanced insects)
SubclassPTERYGOTA (bees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other winged insects)
ClassINSECTA (true insects)
SubphylumHEXAPODA (insects and other 6-legged organisms)
PhylumARTHROPODA (arthropods)
SuperphylumECDYSOZOA (skin shedders)
CladeBilateria (bilaterally symmetrical animals)
SubkingdomEUMETAZOA (metazoans)
KingdomANIMALIA (animals)
DomainEukaryota (eukaryotes)
LifeBIOTA (living things)
Records of Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly) :
1: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
8 Jul 2016 OSGR: SY98 50° 40’ N, 2° 0’ W Vice County: Dorset (VC 9) England
Female, swept from Spear Thistle . Photos: Female with weakly marked wings
Image 1: Female - dorsal view - wings apart - highly enlarged - silver background
2: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
12 Jul 2013 OSGR: SU56 51° 20’ N, 1° 20’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
Male, swept off Spear Thistle
Image 1: Male - anterior view - magnified - pale backgroundImage 2: Male - dorsal view - highly enlarged - pale backgroundImage 3: Male - head and thorax - dorsal view - magnified - pale backgroundImage 4: Male - head - anterior view - magnified - pale background
3: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
22 Jul 2012 OSGR: SU46 51° 20’ N, 1° 20’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
Female, by general sweeping
Image 1: Female - dorsal view - highly enlarged - pale backgroundImage 2: Female - head and thorax - dorsal view - magnified - pale backgroundImage 3: Female - head and thorax - lateral view - magnified - pale backgroundImage 4: Female - lateral view - highly enlarged - pale background
4: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
18 Jun 2011 OSGR: SY67 50° 30’ N, 2° 30’ W Vice County: Dorset (VC 9) England
Male, on phyllaries of Spear Thistle capitulum
Image 1: Male - head and thorax - dorsal view - magnifiedImage 2: Male - head and thorax - lateral view - magnified - grey backgroundImage 3: Male - head - anterior view - magnified - grey backgroundImage 4: Male - lateral view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 5: Wing - magnified
5: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
25 Jun 2006 OSGR: TQ31 50° 60’ N, 0° 10’ W Vice County: East Sussex (VC 14) England
Male, on Lesser Burdock capitulum
Image 1: Male - antero-lateral view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 2: Male - dorsal view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 3: Male - dorsal view - close-up - highly enlarged (2)Image 4: Male - lateral view - close-up - highly enlarged
6: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
25 Jun 2006 OSGR: TQ31 50° 60’ N, 0° 10’ W Vice County: East Sussex (VC 14) England
Female, on Lesser Burdock leaf
Image 1: Female - dorsal view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 2: Female - dorsal view - close-up - highly enlarged (2)Image 3: Female - ovipositor extended - dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 4: Female - ovipositor extended - front three-quarter view - highly enlargedImage 5: Female - ovipositor extended - front three-quarter view - highly enlarged (2)Image 6: Female - ovipositor extended - lateral view - detail - highly enlargedImage 7: Female - ovipositor part extended - dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 8: Female - ovipositor part extended - lateral view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 9: Female - ovipositor retracted - dorsal view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 10: Female - ovipositor retracted - dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 11: Female - ovipositor retracted - dorso-lateral view - highly enlargedImage 12: Female - ovipositor retracted - dorso-lateral view - highly enlarged (2)
7: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
25 Jun 2006 OSGR: TQ31 50° 60’ N, 0° 10’ W Vice County: East Sussex (VC 14) England
Female, on Lesser Burdock leaf
Image 1: Female - lateral view - close-up - enlarged
8: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
25 Jun 2006 OSGR: TQ31 50° 60’ N, 0° 10’ W Vice County: East Sussex (VC 14) England
Male, on Lesser Burdock
Image 1: Male - dorso-lateral view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 2: Male - dorso-lateral view - close-up - highly enlarged (2)Image 3: Male - front three-quarter view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 4: Male - front three-quarter view - close-up - highly enlarged (2)Image 5: Male - front three-quarter view - enlargedImage 6: Male - lateral view - close-up - highly enlargedImage 7: Male - lateral view - close-up - highly enlarged (2)
9: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
23 Jun 2005 OSGR: SU06 51° 20’ N, 1° 50’ W Vice County: North Wilts (VC 7) England
Female, mating and ovipositing on Spear Thistle
Image 1: Female - dorsal view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 2: Female - dorso-lateral view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 3: Female - head & thorax - dorsal view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 4: Female - in situ - lateral view - enlargedImage 5: Female - in situ - latero-dorsal view - enlargedImage 6: Female - ovipositing in thistle capitulum bud - highly enlargedImage 7: Female - ventral view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 8: Male (left) and female (right), disturbed while in cop. - enlargedImage 9: Male - in situ - dorsal view - enlargedImage 10: Male - in situ - dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 11: Male - in situ - lateral view - highly enlarged
10: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
23 Jun 2005 OSGR: SU06 51° 20’ N, 1° 50’ W Vice County: North Wilts (VC 7) England
Males, hanging out on Spear Thistle
Image 1: Male - in situ - dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 2: Male - in situ - dorsal view - highly enlarged (2)Image 3: Male - in situ - dorsal view - highly enlarged (3)Image 4: Male - in situ - front three-quarter view - enlargedImage 5: Male - in situ - lateral view - enlargedImage 6: Male - in situ - lateral view - enlarged (2)Image 7: Male - lateral view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 8: Male - lateral view - highly enlarged - grey background (2)
11: Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
9 Aug 1997 OSGR: SU38 51° 30’ N, 1° 30’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
on Sawwort
Image 1: Three views

Identification Works

AuthorYearTitleSource
Redfern, M. 1968 The Natural History of Spear Thistle-heads Field Studies Vol 2, No 5: 669-717.

Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly) may also be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

NBNNBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
BioInfoBioInfo (www.bioinfo.org.uk) has 16 host/parasite/foodplant and/or other relationships for Urophora stylata (Spear-thistle Gall-fly)
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