Fruity little devil

I found this little gem of a fly on the insignificant flowers of my Paddy’s Pride variety of Ivy. I say insignificant, but in reality they provide food for many pollinating insects, such as wasps, green bottles and honey bees during September and October. The flowers are also important to the survival of queen wasps during November and December. [Contrary to popular opinion, large amounts of ivy growing on trees will not cause any harm as ivy is not parasitic].

This photograph was taken on the 5th November on a lovely sunny afternoon when amongst all the wasps, I noticed this fruit fly. The wings are heavily patterned with dark areas and hence they are sometimes called picture-winged flies.

This critter belongs to the Tephritidae (gall flies, greater fruit flies) family and the species name is Tephritis formosa. The larvae live in fruit and other parts of plants and often induce gall-formation. Although the family is called "Gall Flies", only a minority of species have larvae, which actually cause galls. The rest are internal feeders in fruits, stems or leaves.

The larvae of Tephritis formosa are associated with the following plants:
Perennial Milk-thistle, Prickly Sow-thistle, Smooth Sow-thistle and Marsh Sow-thistle.

The female abdomen is pointed and ends in a rigid, telescopic ovipositor while in males it is blunt or round-ended. From my photograph it is difficult to see the tip of the abdomen, but I think it just about shows a slight point.