Help with identifications, field craft and other topics relating to Diptera
I hope a muscid enthusiast can help with this identification. The nearest I can get with the Fonseca keys is Helina lasiophthalma, but I am not convinced. A notable feature is the reddish tip to the scutellum. Length 7.0 mm. It was caught at a lit window on 31 Oct last year in SW Worcestershire (SO777339).
Martin Skirrow ('Screw')
I would like to place this fly in a family, but it has developed a nice coating of fungus that obscures much of the head and thorax and I can't get anywhere with it though the venation seems extreme and the antennae long ... I can't see if occeli are there or not, nor decide if there is a discal cell which doesn't help! Any clues to point me in the right direction? Thanks, Donald
This robust sized leftovers of fly - a Muscid (I think - no hypopleural bristles) was in a sample collected from a conservatory last summer. I don't think there is much chance of putting a name to it, but the crossvein Dm-Cu is rather unusual in its shape. Does this point to any species? I have not seen it before.
Three times this year already, and once a year or so ago, I have taken Pherbellia ventralis from different Roe Deer corpses at the same time as taking multiple specimens of the Heleomyzid Neoleria ruficauda. These have all been within conifer plantation on lowland heath. The basic appearance of the two is superficially very similar and only under the microscope have I discovered the Sciomyzid interlopers. Presumably the similarity is coincidence, but what is the Pherbellia doing on the corpse?
Pherbellia ventralis
I would welcome help with identification of this small acalypterate, which emerged from decaying horse chestnut wood. The most striking features are the shape of the wings, with almost square ends, and the lack of bristles on the frons apart from one front-orbital.
I am currently sorting the contents of a malaise trap that was deployed for just over two months last summer at Shapwick NNR in Somerset. One of the flies I have found is a tephritid that seems to key to Euleia rotundiventris and David Clements has said that the photograph looks good to him. As it is so rare or under recorded nationally, I would like further confirmation if possible. In particular, it looks quite pale compared to photographs I have seen of this species.
How do I add attach pictures to an ID request please?