The wildlife and wild places of Leicestershire and Rutland
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Flies
All images on this website have been taken in Leicestershire and Rutland by NatureSpot members. We welcome new contributions - just register and use the Submit Records form to post your photos. Click on any image below to visit the species page. The RED / AMBER / GREEN dots indicate how easy it is to identify the species - see our Identification Difficulty page for more information. A coloured rating followed by an exclamation mark denotes that different ID difficulties apply to either males and females or to the larvae - see the species page for more detail.
Flies
Agromyzidae
The Agromyzidae are a family of very small flies, commonly called 'leaf-miner flies' for their larval feeding habits. The larvae of most species mine leaves, or occasionally stems, seeds or roots. Leaf-mining is a specialised form of feeding where the larval stages of the fly are spent feeding between the upper and lower epidermis of a leaf. Many species are monophagous - i.e. live on a specific plant - and in many cases the host-plant and feeding pattern caused by the larva, including the arrangement of frass, can be used to identify the species. Sometimes detailed examination of the larva or puparium is also needed, and in some cases, the only option is to rear the adult fly.
The National Agromyzidae Recording Scheme website ( https://agromyzidae.co.uk/) is a superb resource for this family, and much more information on larval feeding, insect morphology and other features of the Agromyzidae can be found here. The site lists all known UK species, with descriptions of the mines and the life stages of the species, plus information on UK status and distribution, host plants, confusion species and phenology. NatureSpot is indebted to this scheme for much of the information shown on the species pages below.
Take clear backlit photographs of the whole leaf-mine, from both leaf surfaces, showing frass pattern and location of mine within leaf or other part of plant. Always note the host plant accurately.
Asteiidae
family
Opomyzidae
Generally small, slender, yellow, brown or black coloured flies. The larval food plants are grasses, including cereal crops, the adults are mainly found in open habitats.
Chloropidae - Grass flies
These are usually very small flies, yellow or black and appearing shiny due to the virtual absence of any hairs. Most of the larvae of this genus feed on grasses.
Heleomyzidae
A small family of flies whose larvae feed on decaying plant and animal matter.
Sphaeroceridae
Drosophilidae
Ephydridae - Shore flies or Brine flies
Hippoboscidae - Louse flies
Scathophagidae - Dung flies
Only a few species of the genus Scathophaga pass their larval stages in animal dung. The name probably derives from the Common Yellow Dung-fly, S. stercoraria, which is one of the most abundant and ubiquitous flies in many parts of the northern hemisphere.
Further information and help for flies in this family can be found at the Scathophagidae National Recording Scheme website.