Xyphosia miliaria (Schrank, 1781)
(Mottled Thistle Fly)

Taxonomic hierarchy:
SpeciesXyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
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 Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly) :
1: Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
8 Jul 2016 OSGR: SY98 50° 40’ N, 2° 0’ W Vice County: Dorset (VC 9) England
2 males, swept from Marsh Thistle
Image 1: Male - dorsal view - highly enlarged - silver backgroundImage 2: Male - head and thorax - dorsal view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 3: Male - head and thorax - lateral view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 4: Male - head - dorsal view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 5: Male - head - lateral view - magnified - silver backgroundImage 6: Male - lateral view - highly enlarged - silver backgroundImage 7: Male - ventral view - highly enlarged - silver background
2: Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
12 Jul 2013 OSGR: SU46 51° 20’ N, 1° 20’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
Female, swept off Creeping Thistle
Image 1: Female - dorsal view - highly enlarged - pale backgroundImage 2: Female - head and thorax - dorsal view - magnified - white backgroundImage 3: Female - head and thorax - lateral view - magnified - pale backgroundImage 4: Female - head - anterior view - magnified - white backgroundImage 5: Female - head - dorsal view - magnified - white backgroundImage 6: Female - head - lateral view - magnified - pale backgroundImage 7: Female - lateral view - highly enlarged - pale backgroundImage 8: Female - ovipositor half extended - highly enlarged - pale backgroundImage 9: Female - ventral view - highly enlarged - white backgroundImage 10: Wing - magnified - white background
3: Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
9 Jul 2011 OSGR: SS59 51° 40’ N, 4° 10’ W Vice County: Glam (VC 41) England
Female, on Marsh Thistle, around base of capitulum
Image 1: Female - anterior view - highly enlargedImage 2: Female - dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 3: Female - dorso-lateral view - highly enlargedImage 4: Female - lateral view - highly enlargedImage 5: Female - lateral view - highly enlarged (2)Image 6: Female - latero-dorsal view - highly enlargedImage 7: Female - latero-dorsal view - highly enlarged (2)Image 8: Female - latero-dorsal view - highly enlarged (3)Image 9: Female - posterior view - highly enlargedImage 10: Female - postero-lateral view - highly enlarged
4: Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
14 Jul 2006 OSGR: SU66 51° 20’ N, 1° 10’ W Vice County: North Hants (VC 12) England
Female, on Creeping Thistle capitulum
Image 1: Female - dorso-lateral view - highly enlarged - grey backgroundImage 2: Female - in situ - antero-dorsal view - close-up - enlargedImage 3: Female - in situ - antero-lateral view - close-up - enlargedImage 4: Female - in situ - lateral view - close-up - enlargedImage 5: Female - in situ - lateral view - close-up - enlarged (2)Image 6: Female - in situ - latero-dorsal view - close-up - enlargedImage 7: Female - in situ - latero-ventral view - close-up - enlargedImage 8: Female - in situ - rear three-quarter view - close-up - enlargedImage 9: Female - lateral view - highly enlarged - grey background
5: Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
11 Jul 1998 OSGR: SU97 51° 30’ N, 0° 40’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
on Creeping Thistle
Image 1: Male - lateral viewImage 2: Male - lateral view (2)
6: Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
11 Jul 1998 OSGR: SU97 51° 30’ N, 0° 40’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
on Creeping Thistle
Image 1: Female - dorsal view - wings spreadImage 2: Female - dorsal view - wings spread (2)Image 3: Female - lateral viewImage 4: Female - ventral view
7: Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
3 Jul 1998 OSGR: SU56 51° 20’ N, 1° 20’ W Vice County: Berks (VC 22) England
on Marsh Thistle
Image 1: Male and female - dorsal viewsImage 2: Male and female - lateral viewsImage 3: Male and female - ventral views

Identification Works

AuthorYearTitleSource
Gibbons, B. 2004 Xyphosia miliaria Vol 15, No 4 Page: 284

Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly) may also be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

NBNNBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
BioInfoBioInfo (www.bioinfo.org.uk) has 8 host/parasite/foodplant and/or other relationships for Xyphosia miliaria (Mottled Thistle Fly)
Creative Commons License
This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on the BioImages website by Malcolm Storey is licensed under the above Creative Commons Licence.

Photographs from other photographers are used with permission but not included under the above CC licence.

BioImages - Virtual Field-Guide (UK)