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This fly seems to me to be Muscidae: striped thorax, plumose arista. But is the R5 cell too open for Musciade? Most Muscids have the R5 cell closed or nearly closed at the wing margin, don't they?

Photographed 8 April 2006, open area near woodlands, West Virginia USA. Measured 8 mm from front of face to tip of abdomen.

ID help appreciated!

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Here's a second image.

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Hi Stephen,

Have a look at the gallery and compare examples of muscids, sarcophagids and tachinids. I think you'll find that an open cell-R5 is far more common in Muscidae but it is not a defining feature of the group :) The appearance of cell-R5 is more often a characteristic used at generic or specific level.

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Looks very like Myospila meditabunda - found everwhere except Africa and Australasia... and Antarctica ;)

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Chris, Tony, Thanks very much for helping me on this fly.

I found an image of Myospila meditabunda on the "Insects of Cedar Creek" site and it does indeed look a lot like my fly!