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Hello!

Another small fly from two days ago in Ostwestfalen/Germany. It looked and behaved like the wellknown Sepsis punctum, but was not entirely black but partly red.

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Hi J?rgen,

This is not a member of the family Sepsidae but a member of the family Opomyzidae, more specifically a member of the genus Geomyza (a male specimen). Most of the species of this genus don't fly very good, they ar much better at walking. They do have a bit sepsid-like behaviour. Although you don't see them very often in the field, they are very often present. If you go sweeping with a net you will find species like Geomyza balachowskyi, G. tripunctata, Opomyza germinationis, and a bit less frequently O. petrei, on many locations. Other species like Geomyza apicalis are rather scarce in collections. Even by sweeping with a net you will often miss this species, although I have the experience that collecting with pitfall traps is a good method to collect this species.
I am not entirely sure which species you found. If you have more pictures of this species it may be possible to tell the specific name. I am always interested in material of this family (specimens or pictures).

Best regards,

Jan Willem

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Hello, Jan!



Thank you very much! It is indeed very similar to Sepsis, not only from the size and even the dark spots on the wings, but also from the behaviour. It was constantly rotating it's wings when running on the leaf.



Sorry, I am a hobby photographer only, and that is the only picture I took. I did it only because this tiny fly was not as black as the other "Sepis" I knew (and which are very abundant).