More Than Just House Flies!
UK Muscidae & Fanniidae Study Group (MFSG)
The Muscidae are a highly diverse family including some large and noticeable species, such as Mesembrina meridiana, the well-known Musca domestica, and some confusion species, like the greenbottles in genus Neomyia. Many people have heard of house flies and may know a few of the more prominent species. Few people are aware of the full range of species. The British list currently includes 293 species in 40 genera. Although commonly called house flies, very few are truly synanthropic. The ecology of these species is very diverse with larval habitats including dung, carrion, fungi, damp mosses, mud, saltmarsh, dead wood and birds’ nests. Others attack animals and are important as vectors of livestock disease. The Fanniidae, commonly known as Lesser House Flies, are closely related and until recently were regarded as a subfamily of the Muscidae. Their addition into the range of interest of the Group adds 61 species in 2 genera.
The Muscidae & Fanniidae Study Group (MFSG) has now been established under the auspices of The Dipterists Forum, dedicated to promoting interest among UK dipterists, entomologists, general naturalists and the public in the Muscidae & Fanniidae (M&F).
MFSG Activities:
- establish a web presence for the MFSG
- establish an X (formerly known as Twitter) account @UKMuscidae with regular tweets promoting news, events, ‘special’ and ‘interesting’ records and additions to the web site
- encourage specialists and enthusiasts in M&F to collaborate and exchange information, ideas and tips on study methods, through an email group, the web site and elsewhere
- encourage identification and recording of M&F using iRecord for all new and some historical records, including providing tips on collecting, identification and recording
- work with iRecord to provide guidance for additional verifiers for the families
- feature individual species or genera to focus on their status, ecology, habitat requirements and interrelationships
- encourage study of behaviour, distribution, habitat and conservation requirements, phenology, early stages and interactions with other organisms
- encourage discussion of tricky identification questions through an “ID Tip”, e.g. distinguishing Polietes lardarius and P. meridionalis with reference to Zielke (2016)
- help with identification and with the recognition of species new to the British Isles
- collate feedback on and highlight problems with currently available keys
- bring research outcomes to a wider audience
- compile and promote links to publications and information on the web e.g. Steven Falk’s photographic collection on Flickr
As a Study Group rather than a Recording Scheme we do not aim to collect and process records but will encourage submission via iRecord and will work to increase the verification effort.
Resources
PDF copies of some keys are available in the DF Membership Area (another great reason for joining the DF)
What can you do?
If you are interested in learning more about the UK Muscidae and Fanniidae and would like to join the group, ...
- please look out for, read and enjoy the MFSG Newsletter which is included in each issue of the Dipterists Forum Bulletin starting from Autumn 2024 (you will need to be a DF member, if not, join here)
- please contact Mike Ashworth drmikeashworth@gmail.com and ask to be added to the email list
- please write to the email list with sightings, comments, and questions
- please submit your muscid and fanniid records to iRecord
- if you are a user of X, please follow @UKMuscidae and tag @UKMuscidae in your muscid- and fanniid-related posts