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Hello,

these 5-6 mm flies are very numerous these days in our garden and at the forest border (northwest Germany).

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Another individual.

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Hello Jürgen,

I found something similar yesterday. I tried to figure out what it is and i noticed the wing venation as Muscidae. I've never seen a Hydrotaea before but i suspected my specimen to be Hydrotaea. I looked through the gallery and i think that it matches male Hydrotaea diabolus better. I only base this opinion on the width of the frons. The fly in your photos looks similar to the one that i have found. My point is that if you do not get a reply, then i will post examination results from my specimen. I will try to dissect genitalia within the next week. I think that dentipes has black haltere and a narrow frons. I know nothing about Hydrotaea but i will know more now that i have a specimen :)

so maybe Hydrotaea diabolus.

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Hello John,

hmm... I had excluded Hydrotaea diabolus because of its dark, shiny black colour and the "spur" on its mid leg.

Below pics of confirmed (if I remember correctly, by Stéphane Lebrun) Hydrotaea dentipes (upper) and diabolus (lower).

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Stéphane is always right, in my opinion. I cannot disagree with those photos. However, the frons is just too wide in your recent photos.

I have a specimen, so i will eventually know if mine is diabolus or not.
You can wait for Nikita as he is a specialist. I am just saying that mine looks similar to your photo and i already exclude dentipes. Both species are garden dwellers.

:)