What do we know about this little known (or little written about) family. I have some small - 2 to 3 mm - flies that congregate on the leaves of my pond plants. They key out pretty unambiguously to key 93b in the Ball/Ismay keys. They are slightly dark green shining, which made me guess they were Dolis; I then noted that Collyer & Hammond use the phrase 'allied to Drosophilidae.' My photos may give an idea. I'd be glad to have some guidance.
Collin in Ent Mon Mag 69, 1933, pp. 272 - 5 is, or was, the reference to turn to. Does anyone have a copy available? Thanks
Anthony
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These are Hydrellia …
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... and I was just about to…
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... and I was just about to tell the world that I'd realised my error in determination - so thank you Tony for confirming it. Under closer examination I had seen that the sc was much clearer than I'd thought, so I moved to couplet 94 which pointed me directly to the Ephydridae. The habitat - my pond - said the same thing. The eyes being slightly hairy and mouthparts less evident told me we were in Hydrellia country. I now need a key to the family to enable me to go further - can you point me to it?
One lives and learns.
Anthony - can you let me…
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Anthony - can you let me have your e-mail address (mine is dr.tony.irwin[squiggle]gmail.com )? I can send you a set of keys which will help.
These are Hydrellia (Ephydridae)