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Nikita, I do have one identified Pyrgotid photo and I will pass it on to Paul shortly for the gallery. Xespok has one photo of a Pyrogotid in the gallery already.

From what I can tell, the photo at the top of this page is either Pyrgota maculipennis or Sphecomyiella valida, two species which, although in different genera, are supposed to be hard to tell apart. I wrote to the curator gentleman who made the ID on BugGuide to see if he would look at my photo, but I did not hear back from him.

Here are his comments about the photo at BugGuide that looked very similar to mine:

"Pyrgota maculipennis. The wing and body patterns of P. maculipennis cannot be distinguished easily from those of Sphecomyiella valida, but the 11 mm length, body proportions, and especially the shape and banded color pattern of the hind tibia give me confidence in this identification. Sphecomyiella valida is usually at least a few mm longer, stouter of body, and with a gradually expanding hind tibia that is not distinctly banded. Pyrgota maculipennis has also gone under the genus names Sphecomyiella and Boreothrinax."

For the record, if I took my photo (at the top of this page) at my lens' closest focus, and I think I did, then the fly was 12.3 mm long.

On a completely different subject, I notice there is not a single Chironomid photo in the gallery. I guess the problem is not that we don't have photos, but that none of them are identified? Still, it seems like even an unidentified Chironomid would be better than none at all, for any visitor who wondered what a Midge looks like.