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I took this female Dolichocephala in Oxfordshire (SP566057) yesterday and an now very confused as to the taxonomy of the genus.

Collin treats only three species: D. irrorata (Fallén, 1815), D, guttata (Haliday, 1833), D. ocellata (Costa, 1854). Of these my specimen fits D. guttata.

I don't have access to MacGowan's 1996 paper adding D. thomasi Wagner, 1984 to the British list but understand that it is most similar to D. ocellata.

Nor do I have access to Drake and Chandler's 1997 paper reinstating D. oblongoguttata (Dale, 1878) and that still leaves D. engeli Wagner / D. engeli Niesiolowski, 1992.

Can anyone help with this confusion, what if any synonomies am I missing, what are the relationships of D. oblongoguttata and D. engeli tot he other species in the genus and is there any hope for naming my specimen?

Many thanks, Sam

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D. engeli is a junior synonym of D. oblongoguttata so that is one problem less to worry about. Your specimen is either that or guttata but I think at the moment it is only possible to ID the males. Since this is a female...

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thanks, Paul. That clears things up a bit. I'll have to go back and try for a male