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Alpine Meadow

Submitted by TAYLOR SUE on

I found this little fly on 29/4/20, it had the general feel of a Chloropidae and i recall it being 4mm but may have been smaller.

Has anyone any pointers as to what it might be?  Sorry about image quality but the light was poor.

In terms of habitat in Chalk grassland which has been scraped back to allow re-colonisation. Only a small meadow with scrub at the edges and a lot of Dogs Mercury in the shady edges.

Comments

Hi Sue, I posted a link to this over on the DF Facebook group and Rui Andrade has replied to say that it is Nostima picta, one of the shoreflies in family Ephydridae. NBN Atlas seems to have it as Philygria picta. Not a species I've ever seen; Martin Drake describes it as widespread but local in dry or damp grassland.

Hi Sue. Nostima is the correct genus for this species. It had been synonymized with Philygria, but current thinking has restored its generic status. I would appreciate having some locality details, please.

Hi, i have put it on iRec as this record 13375945, Alpine Meadow is on the Ashridge Estate in Herts, though managed by the HMWT. It is an area of relict chalk grassland on a south facing slope.

Half the site was scraped to remove the grass that was becoming rank. It was in this area where there is still some open ground that I found the fly. 

There is also some shade to this area from adjacent shrubs.

Let me know it you need any more info. i am in touch with the warden who is keen to improve the species records.

Sue