UK Muscidae & Fanniidae Study Group

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Thought I'd photographed a male of the frequent Limnophora riparia along the River Lune, Lancs during the @DipteristsForum summer meeting but the dark frons and pale vibrissal angles show it's the much rarer L. exuta. Male of riparia for comparison. @UKMuscidae

Muscid Hydrotaea palaestrica ♂ from a bed of Amphibious Bistort, Reed Sweet Grass and sedges in East Yorkshire yesterday.

Six more British Muscidae genera just added to my Flickr site: Limnospila, Macrorchis, Orchisia, Pseudolimnophora, Schoenomyza and Spanochaeta @N07/collections/72157632832500762/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">flickr.com/photos/6307520…. Images & detailed species accounts. Biodiversity in the raw. Look at that colourful Schoenomyza litorella head.

A new muscid genus just added to Falk Flickr @N07/collections/72157721555291989/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">flickr.com/photos/6307520…. Lispe has 10 British representatives. They love the bare wet mud of upper saltmarsh, river banks and lake margins. Both adults and larvae are predatory. Adults have an elaborate courtship.

Heading for mid-November and getting chillier, but still nice muscids out there...Limnophora riparia and Phaonia atriceps yesterday, beside an East Yorkshire canal.

Helina evecta ♀ at woodland edge in East Yorkshire today...a common muscid early and late in the year.

Still quite a few Striped Shieldbugs (Graphosoma italicum) around Abbey Gardens and Ninefields, Waltham Abbey, Essex today. Some groups still on the same patches of vegetation as the last few months but numbers now dropping in the colder weather and some groups have disappeared

@xylota @ynuorg @DipteristsForum @UKMuscidae Lovely. Yes, you are right about lack of Fanniidae love Ian, so here are four from me: Fannia lustrator, F. mollissima, F. speciosa and F. sociella. I don't have a decent one of Lesser House Fly - need to fix that!

Fantastic...any more Fanniidae fans out there with photos/records to share?!

A few highlights from Union Wood, Co Sligo this afternoon Wiedemannia bistigma (Empididae), Agathomyia cinerea (Platypezidae), Paraplatypeza atra (Platypezidae) and Chelifera diversicauda (Empididae).

@4peatssake2 @BrianE_Cambs @xylota @DoncasterDamian @ynuorg @DipteristsForum @AlchemillaMan It’s proving to be a bit more widespread and catholic in its occurrence than Peter thought. More here @N07/albums/72157632827488537/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">flickr.com/photos/6307520…. Was particularly delighted to find a population at Sutton Park in Birmingham. Also found it in large numbers in coastal grazing marsh nr Lymington.

@graemelyons I often get asked if I'm fishing, I say "yes, fly fishing" LOL 😆

"Are you collecting butterflies?" is the most frequently asked question I get asked when I am out surveying. It's amazing how much people scowl at me for doing everything I can to save the UK's wildlife. When I say no and try to explain, they often walk off and show no interest!

Prepare to have your mind BLOWN This fly (Fannia sp) was found in the meat baited Shannon trap covered in Dermatobia hominis - The HUMAN BOTFLY Botflies usually lay eggs on flies that feed on humans (as the eggs drop when feeding) and these are larvae! #FySchool24

2/x A dead Fin Whale was attracting lots of insects including the Sheepstrike Greenbottle Lucilia sericata and the Black Garbage Fly Hydrotaea aenescens, a New World species now naturalised in Europe because its 'red devil' maggots are used by fishermen.

Piezura pardalina Rondani, 1866 a fairly distinctive species of Fanniidae. This male was collected yesterday from Union wood, Collooney, County Sligo (Date:05.vii.2024). @UKMuscidae

@lisajrwilliams @DipteristsForum @StaffsWildlife @StaffsEcology Yup, distinctive with its orange frons. Nice. 🙂

Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris) is such an important nectar source: Conops quadrifasciatus mating pair, Macronychia dolini, Physocephala rufipes & Stictoleptura scutellata all feeding on Ragwort in Bengeo garden during last two weeks. @hertsbna