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This one keys out to Muscina in the Manual of the Nearctic Diptera muscid key and then to Muscina stabulans using Huckett's California key (Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 18: 1-148, 1975). That key doesn't include Muscina levida but that species is supposed to have all dark legs.

I don't have a photo demonstrating the absence of setae on the posterior side of the metacoxa but did confirm that under a microscope. The fly darkened considerably between the time the live photos and "postmortem" photos were taken.

I'd appreciate it if someone with more expertise in muscids would confirm or correct that ID. Thanks in advance!

Regards
Steve

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Hello Steve,

i have M. stabulans and your id seems okay to me. I don't see anything suspicious. I've never studied American diptera, so i don't know if you have anything similar or not. As far as i can see, it is a good match. I have photos of genitalia somewhere if it is necessary for you to feel comfortable with a match. Otherwise, id okay to me.

Have a nice day,
John

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Thanks John! From what I've read M. stabulans should be the only species in the eastern US with legs of this color.
I hope your recovery from surgery is going well and that you're completely back on your feet soon
Best wishes
Steve

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Hello Steve and Thank you for the kind comments regarding surgery. I still have to deal with capsulitis but everything else is getting better. I have physical therapy appointments to try to avoid a second surgery.

I didn't think that there is a similar Muscina but i can't find a list. I'm trying to add American keys to my library but it is going slowly. I did find a nice website from the university of British Columbia: https://www.zoology.ubc.ca/entomology/main/Diptera/

this site gives me a good education of some of the North American diptera.

i hope that you have a lovely day,
John

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Hi John,
You're quite welcome. If you're looking for papers containing keys to North American diptera, BugGuide.net is a good place to start (use the "Links" and "Books" tabs under the taxa of interest). There'll be URLs to the papers there although many recent papers will be behind paywalls. If the link is to JSTOR (https://www.jstor...), you can get free access to 6 papers per month by setting up an account. Access to older journal volumes at sites like the Biodiversity Heritage Library (https://www.biodi...ibrary.org) is free.
The Manual of Nearctic Diptera has many keys although some may not be up to the latest taxonomy (http://esc-sec.ca...ions/aafc/). It also contains a list of reference papers for each family.
The Diptera volume of Nomina Insecta Nearctica (http://nearctica....olume3.htm) contains current names of taxa and their synonyms along with author last names and dates. Using that info in a web search sometimes turns up an accessible paper.
The Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification (http://cjai.biolo...urnal.html) has some excellent keys to some dipteran taxa, both as PDFs and as online keys. The geographic range of those keys in limited to northern North America but the keys I've used have been excellent.
I hope that helps

Best wishes
Steve

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Thank you very much for the information and links, Steve. I have all ready started downloading pdf files. This is great! :)

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend.
John

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My pleasure!:)
I hope you have a wonderful weekend too

Steve

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I sent a private message to you regarding Muscina levida. :)
By the way, i see some of your work at the Biodiversity project. Very nice!

John