Hydrophoria diabata at Braefoot, Dalgety Bay

A male anthomyiid taken yesterday looks very likely to be the above, though NBN only carries one record from Oxford area. This was at some point in the past synonymised with H.lancifer but was subsequently separated again. Presumably this has had an effect on recording and there may be lancifer records which are actually diabata. I have sent pics and await confirmation (edit: confirmed). This is the 2nd confirmed British record, though some may have slipped through under the guise of lancifer.

plumose arista not so common in Anthos

Hook tip

note also the long epandrium

Calliphora subalpina, Dalgety Bay - Braefoot

In these covid times the lack of variety in location speaks for itself, but this species I've found here, at Cullaloe LNR and Lochgelly, so there's a good chance it's at all my other patches with some woodland too. Lochgelly doesn't even have much woodland (at least, on the north bank where I would have found it. Those three are the only Fife records I know, but Calliphoridae are badly under-represented in Fife recording.

Norellisoma spinimanum in Dalgety Bay

Up to no good in the undergrowth, and with those spines you wouldn't want to be a prey item! Known from a few other sites around the county, this probably isn't an uncommon fly.

Golden Dung Fly - Scathophaga stercoraria

Maybe the first time ever recorded in my garden, this female was potted from a fencepost near the fish-baited bottle trap. Wonder if, like a sparrowhawk at a birdfeeder, she was waiting to snatch anything of a suitable size that came too close.

Reminds me of a time when I accidentally potted one with a small fly in the same tube in Uig Bay, Skye. An interesting, but grim, spectacle was provided as the scathophagid sucked the juices out of its hapless room-mate.

Opetia nigra - Dalgety Bay, 23.iii.20

Opetia nigra, swept from woodland floor in Ross Plantation among a collection of small flies. Previously encountered same location 27.x.18

Diastata nebulosa, Dalgety Bay - Ross plantation

Diastata nebulosa, f.
Dalgety Bay, Ross Plantation
14.iii.2020
Swept from damp woodland floor

A lovely little fly swept from wet woodland in Ross Plantation, and a new family for me - Diastatidae. New to the county too.

Diastata nebulosa (Fallen)

Opacifrons humida at Dalgety Bay, 03/02/2020

A few small flies were swept around the edge of the bay and the pond margin. Leptocera fontinalis and Lonchoptera lutea were featured along with the ephydrid Parydra quadripunctata.

However, new to me and the second location for Fife was Opacifrons humida (as NBN and the key but in the new British list Pseudocollinella humida). This is a sphaerocerid which is so dusted it's almost olivaceous. It has prominent pre-sutural acros and three pairs of DCs.

Habitus

3 DCs, pre-sutural acrostichals

Wings of O.humida and L.fontinalis

Brachypterous lesser dung fly

Found in leaf litter at Dalgety Bay this lovely brachypterous fly is allegedly a common species. Presumably I've just been overlooking it.

You can see the scutellum here with two pairs of marginal spines and no discals. You can see the middle tibia with two anterodorsals in the distal half. You can also see the costa "overshooting" R4+5 (is that the right designation? Sounds a bit off).

Anyway, glad to have it on my Sphaerocerid list. Should be easy enough to recognise in the future too

Leucophenga maculata, Dalgety Bay, 2018

I've had this on a pin from Dalgety Bay for going on two years. When I came across it while scouring boxes of "the unexamined" I couldn't remember catching it and can't believe I didn't give it more time since it's a bit "fancy". Maybe something else interesting happened at that time and it got bypassed.

When I keyed it to Drosophilidae I was thinking, "Yeah, right". Its wing length is 4mm! Well, would you believe it - it is in fact the "monster" drosophilid Leucophenga maculata. There aren't many records on NBN and none in Scotland, though who can guess how much that means. Certainly wasn't on the Fife list (though it will be on the new one!)

Suilia affinis at Cullaloe LNR.

An interesting species in the bottle trap at Cullaloe was new for Fife, though subsequently I found another unidentified specimen of this on a pin from Dalgety Bay last year. As an English name I'd go for Speckled Suillia!

(edit: I now think these are S.variegata)

Lindneromyia dorsalis, Dalgety Bay 26/9/2018 - new to Scotland

A flat-footed fly swept just north of St.Bridget's.

Lindneromyia dorsalis
Dalgety Bay
NT1683
26.ix.2018

Macronychia striginervis new to Scotland from Dalgety Bay, Fife, 16/08/2018

Macronychia striginervis, f.
Dalgety Bay
NT1683
16/08/2018

Eristalis aeneus, Dalgety Bay

Around butterfly bush, though there's plenty of Sea Aster flowering in the bay rightnow

Xylota sylvarum, Dalgety Bay, Ross Plantation, 12/06/2018

Xylota sylvarum, m.
Dalgety Bay
Ross Plantation
12/06/2018

Fannia lustrator, Dalgety Bay, Crow Hill Wood

Loads of Fannia lustrator hovering in the sunshine beside the coastal path yesterday. Quite a big fly for the genus. It has very strong spines below, but quite why I have no idea!

Bibio leucopterus - out in force!

After some females then some males appeared slowly over the last week there was suddenly an explosion and now the males are appearing en masse in Ross Plantation

Eumerus funeralis, Dalgety Bay, 30.v.2018

Eumerus funeralis,
Dalgety Bay, Ross Plantation
NT1683
30.v.2018
NOFI: two locations in Fife
NBN: very few Scottish records shown, including none from Fife!

Not the bets pics but my 87th species of hover fly in Fife (and in NT18 I think)

Rhaphium crassipes, Dalgety Bay

Dalgety Bay, Ross Plantation
NT1683
27/05/2018
NOFI: new for Fife
NBN: no records from central Scotland but otherwise apparently common enough

Many on low vegetation in an open clearing

Hydrotaea diabolus, Dalgety Bay, Ross Plantation, 24/05/18

Hydrotaea diabolus,
Dalgety Bay, Ross Plantation
NT1683
24.v.2018
NOFI status - no Fife records
NBN status - 2 Scottish records

After finding a female a couple of days ago which was waiting to be identified, I ran into a male yesterday and what a fantastic fly it is! The overall impression is a glistening blue-black with a brightly flashing silver face when the light strikes it at the right angle. It has bizarrely long legs, especially the central ones, and the fore and hind legs bear weird and wonderful appendages. The central femur has a spectacular upturned hair on its apex.

The female - note pale haltere

A male

Peg leg - cilia on tibia also noteworthy

The shovel like front femur

Central femur "spur"

Shiny face