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HI again!;)

I have 3 different lots of flies which all look to be Pipunculidae to me. I will date them as I post them.

All taken in my garden, a few miles south of Lincoln UK. All are less than 4mm.

Appreciated if anyone can confirm the family or not, and I am clutching at straws but even further would be great!:D

Janet

Pic 1, taken on 17th May, one pic only.

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Fly 2, 3 pics, taken on 31st July.

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Fly 2 pic 2

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Fly 2 pic 3

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Flies 3, mating pair, 3 pics.

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Flies 3 pic 2

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Flie 3 pic 3

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Yes, all are Pipunculidae

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Thank you Phil, it took me some time to get those together!;)

Can any be got to genus level? These don't seem to be very common.:)

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Wow.
Those are really great photos.

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Hi

Fly no. 2 should belong to Dorylomorpha and the flying acrobats are most probably Cephalops. Can you provide any information in regard to the mating behaviour (time of the day, how high above the ground, how long did it take, were they hovering on one spot all the time etc.)? Great pictures!

Christian

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Thanks, I practice daily! :D I use a basic Nikon D40X with a VR 105mm macro lens and Nikon 2x teleconverter, in manual of course and hand held.

Thank you also Christian, much appreciated. They were low down amongst Ivy leaves, I noticed their pink-purple wing colour as they hovered so lined them up in my viewfinder.

It was after 7pm, the first pic I have is 19:05:08, last was 19:05:49. I may have deleted a couple of pics (I kept the best 4) and as I was stood nearby I don't think they would have started much earlier than when I saw them, and the last pic was probably the best one. I think they separated after the last one, or moved on. The sun was shining low in the sky, and the Ivy is over a roadside drain.

The second fly I found on the slab next to my new pond so they must like to be near water.

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I have found some very interesting look-alikes with the lead you gave me Christian! Tolweb should be a good source, look at Eudorylas aequus, it looks a lot like the one on the slab, the second fly.


http://tolweb.org...quus/55582

The fly at the top looks like my first pic, a Eudorylas sp.

http://tolweb.org...ylas/54653

Wow, some identification keys! I odn't know if anyone can decipher anything from the pics though.

http://www.kehlma...idae1.html

Clicking on the 'in English' link at the top gives a lot more!

http://tolweb.org...

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I went a long route and found the key page again, it's your's Christian! B)

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I have a fifth picture taken at 19:04:51, I gave them a temporary name of Eudorylas subfascipes I think because I found a mating pic somewhere which looked similar.

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Thanks for the info.

Pipunculidae is a rather difficult family (some people say ;)). For species ID it's absolutely necessary to check inner male genitalia or get a proper view of the female ovipositor. Superficially, most species (there are some 200 in Europe) look very much alike. But I am pretty sure that the mating couple belongs to Cephalops.

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Thank you for taking the time Christian. As you know so much about these I will call the mating pair Cephalops sp. B)

Is it a high possiblity the other two are Eudorylas sp.? I don't know how many species there are in the UK but I think less than in Europe. ;)

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Fly 2. Dorylomorpha sp.

Fly 1. Pipunculinae; could well be a member of Eudorylini

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Thanks once again Christian! :)