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Hi,

I need to get all my Tachinids or Tachinid look-alikes with a confirmed ID so I can send the records to Chris. Any help is much appreciated, but some of these are confusing as to which family they belong so please bear with me.;)

This one I got only one pic of on 14th April 2009 in my garden, a few miles south of Lincoln UK.

Greetings to all!

Janet :)

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Tricky - not a sarco this time (hairy eyes) but not Campylocheta either ... but not sure what it could be because I can't see enough of the body :( (maybe Phorocera?? - guess)

Here is a C.praecox that I had confirmed here recently :)

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I have cropped down to maximum magnification making two more pics which might help.

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bottom

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Phorocera gets my vote as well. It is difficult to see, but the m-vein seems to make a kink?

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Thanks Jaakko, if it's Phorocera sp. then it would narrow the choices down to two as we only have Phorocera obscura and P. assimilis in the UK.:)

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The facial ridge seems bare and the parafacialia hairy, if you have a very good look.

So my guess is Smidtia conspersa.


Theo

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Smidtia conspersa looks very good to me! The coppery coloured scuttelum matches too. That would be a good record as there are not many here, and as often is the case only recorded further south than I am, but Chris will possibly have more records.

Thanks Theo!B)

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Now when Theo said it, it's obvious... I was somehow ignoring that Phorocera have facial bristles too! Plus that P. obscura were really common this spring everywhere.

There seems to be 3 dc, so rules out amoena. Phenology also matches.

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Thanks for the confirmation Jaakko, nice to know that the details match to you too. S. conspera is the only species we have here so it looks like a positive for sure!

Chris might want to add this one to the list I sent.;)