Hairy fly

[Toby]

is this a Tachinid? It will certainly be something very common.

[oxycera]

Probably a muscid, but someone out there should know.

[Laurence Clemons]

It is a tachinid. While I can't place it at the moment there are enough visible characters on the picture to enable identification to at least genus.

[Dogghound]

Yes definately a tachnid, I can think of several very similar looking species but nothing quite spot on. Which is very annying.

[oxycera]

I can just about make out the subscutellum, so a tachinid I suppose it is. I find most of these things very difficult to id. I take my hat of to anyone who can do it from a photo.

[Toby]

Originally Posted by oxycera

I can just about make out the subscutellum, so a tachinid I suppose it is. I find most of these things very difficult to id. I take my hat of to anyone who can do it from a photo.

I guess it depends on the photos, what details they show and how clear they are. It seems specific species often needs minute examination of genitalia and wing venation etc but I was hoping I might get the genus. Springtails appear to be much easier for the experts!

[oxycera]

With some families such as tachinids and craneflies I find getting to genus the difficult bit. That's probably why I don't tend to bother with them these days!

[Toby]

Zeegers from the Netherlands reckons Cyzenis albicans due to one pair of proclinate orbital setae.

[haematocephalus]

That's a nice fly!

There's some further info on the excellent Tachinidae Recording Scheme website - hope these links will work:

Tachinid Recording Scheme: Species data

Tachinid Recording Scheme: Database records


Martin

Martin Harvey