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Hello,

Is it possible to say which this is? I only have one shot of it, but it shows the bristles well.

20th May, my garden near Lincoln UK.

Janet

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crop

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Hi Janet. :) I'm afraid the bristles don't get you all the way with these ones - it's a male genitalia job (if you'll pardon the expression). If you found a male with spots and bristles just like this one, we could narrow it down to A. procellaris or A. bazini (which look identical). The key says nothing about females ;)

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Hi Stephen. :) I have pics of a male from a month or so ago, but the pattern on the scutellum is different with only a small white area. I didn't realise there was another species which looked like pluvialis/procellaris! :o

Now I'm wondering it the male I had is pluvialis, maybe I should post that one too. ;)

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Anthomyia procellaris female

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Wow, that's great! Thanks Michael, we don't have a female in the gallery. B)

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Michael, can we stop thinking about A. bazini in Britain now, or is there a way to distinguish them visually?

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I guessed that it was unlikely to be bazini in Lincoln! Apart from an old record (1941)of 1 male from Worcs, it is only known recently from Merioneth. See my paper, 2007, Dipterists Digest 13:97-100, Anthomyia bazini Seguy (Diptera, Anthomyiidae) rediscovered in Britain after 65 years. One could identify bazini males from the 5th sternite ; apart from that it is almost identical to procellaris. I assumed the female was procellaris because it is very common, and the black postsutural spot reaches the wing base, unlike pluvialis. I c an only see about 5 ad-setae on the hind tibia of the female in the enlarged photo, imbrida generally has more.

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Thank you - I didn't realise it was so local.

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Thanks for the pointers Michael, now I know what to look for. I'll be trying to snap every angle I can get of these! ;)