On a further note, the legs of my specimen are strongly orange, whereas those of X. pedisequum are predominantly yellow - as can be seen when you look at photos of both species on Diptera.info. The hind margin of the scutellum has the same colour. So far as the wing markings are concerned I'm led to suspect that the illustration in Stubbs & Falk was drawn from an untypical specimen.
This has already been identified as Macrorrhyncha flava (by Vladimir Blagoderov) on the UK Diptera Facebook page. Sometimes it easier to follow the key backwards!
Thank you Tony. What a strange turn of events! And thank you for your tip on using the key to Families.
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You can grab the bottom corner of a photo and drag it in to reduce the size on screen. It allows you easily to contrast photos alongside each other. Photos have to be below 2MB, I think. It seems a much better way of doing things to me.
Thanks to Sue and the others who have responded via email - you should see some new photos appearing on the home page from time to time!
Hi Chris, that looks very intriguing but I'm not able to confirm it from the photos. Would you be willing to send the specimen?
Yes, shouldn't be a problem. I've picked up another Hybomitra since - would it be ok to send that one too?
Certainly a Callomyia male - either amoena or elegans. I find it difficult to see the characters that distinguish these two in the photos. I suspect it is amoena, but it would be good to hear other opinions!
The produced frons and that pointed, blade-like arista suggest Camarota to me. I think you'll find that the wing is rather bent, following the curve of the abdomen.
Tony - thanks for pointing me to Camarota - my specimen exactly matches the five photos on Diptera Info. So it's going in the box as C. curvipennis. What do we know about this species? I seem to be turning up Chloropids all the time, but can't find a key - is there one?
There is a very expensive Fauna Ent Scand book on chloropids, though it doesn't have all of the British species included. Your best bet is to get in touch with John and Barbara Ismay (you can e-mail them from this site - go to "Recording" then "Chloropid Study Group"). They have produced a set of provisional keys for the British Fauna which are very useful.
Thanks for replying, Tony. Yes, it is amoena - Donald Smith passed one of the images on to Peter Chandler and he said it is probably amoena. I managed to capture him a couple of days later and take a series of much closer photos (although photographing him in the fridge was not ideal!) and yes, these photos clearly show grey markings on the fore edges of the abdominal tergites, not the hind edges. Amoena he is, but still a lovely fly nonetheless.
I've looked at both, and on the whole I stick with X. citrofasciatum, based on the shape of the markings, which are more angular than the more rounded markings on X. pedisequum. The thoracic markings seem to confirm this. The extent of the chocolate markings on the wing worries me, I must admit, but in that regard I'm working from memory only.