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Hi,
Today I spent some hours on a sunny patch of sand in a Berlin pine wood where lots of Hymenoptera of all sizes dug their holes. But not all busy animals were bees and wasps. I saw several tiny Sarcophagids (not Tachinids as I first thought), about 3-4 mm long, that seemed to be very interested in the activities of the other insects. Now and then a couple found together and played a pre-mating ceremony: a peculiar flight one close above the other, and on the ground a kind of abdomen massage by the male for the wing-whirring female. The white face of the male shone like silver in the sun.
I would really like to get a name for the small critters!
Many thanks, Sundew

This is the female:

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This is the male:

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And here is the couple:

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Nice pictures of Metopia species (in argyrocephala group), Sarcophagidae.

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Thanks, St?phane, you helped me to find the right family and also supplied a genus name for the little ones. Argyrocephala is an excellently fitting name (for the males)! What did they do among all the Hymenopters - are they parasites, and of whom? I really would like to know more about their life...
Cheers, Sundew