40 Flies

I had a day off work today and, despite it being sunny, it was blooming chilly in the NE wind. However, the Swallows are back and the Common Sandpipers are calling so it must be springtime. Actually, I even heard a lamb yesterday, thinking about it.

I took a quick wander along the track through Uig Wood, lots of flowers and a bit of blossom starting to show at last. I did spy a handful of small flies tucked deep inside Dandelion heads, but it was too breezy and cold to bother swiping around with the net. Happily, I did spy one fly that was well worth stopping to admire

Male Tipula vittata sunning itself on a dock leaf

I was pretty sure I knew the species, but vaguely remembered that there is a lookalike species, so I jammed it into my largest pot and took it back for a closer inspection. 

It's a very smart beast!

Easy to see why they call this family the Long-palped Craneflies!

The confusion species with Tipula vittata is Tipula lateralis, which I now realise is a far smaller insect. It has a somewhat similar pattern to the wingtip, though less well-marked and not as extensive. Below is the wing membrane of today's Tipula vittata, firstly against a pale background and then against a darker background to highlight the dark and pale markings

Tipula vittata - note the pale markings which extend to the wingtip itself

And this is the wing membrane of Tipula lateralis, from a specimen I collected here in May 2019

Similar, but the pale markings only head downwards and not across the wingtip

But the most obvious difference, when placed side by side, is the larger size of vittata (left) compared with lateralis (right)

So that's one more species added to The Grand Fly and Beetle Challenge and it just so happens to be my 40th species of fly for the year. That's not very many, considering it is almost May, but things have yet to really start emerging up here. The weather has been brilliant for much of the past week, but it's gone cold again now thanks to that northerly wind. I have tomorrow off work too, I may swipe that net a bit more and see if I can't find a few more identifiable flies for the tally. Last night The Ghost began taunting me: 

Been doing flies today, starting to hunt you down....

I don't know why he always has to talk in italics, he's just a bit weird like that. 

Anyway, I reckon I have at least twenty more fly species in the Backlog Box that I can identify, plus there's a whole shedload that are beyond my current capabilities (lack of magnification and keys being the main issues), hence need specialist attention. Stuff like the Sciaridae, Mycetophilidae, Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae (those are all nematocerans) and there's a small but growing haul of Sphaeroceridae too.  

Roll on number 50 and then it'll be a race to see who hits 100 first! Of course, I'm completely whupping his arse when it comes to the beetles. As the lyrics say I WANT MORE!!!! 

Edit - The Ghost has now seen this post and responded accordingly:

I've gone from 20-something to 36 in the last 24 hours and I've only done the syrphids I had awaiting attention. You're going down...

Now I don't know about you guys, but I call that Fighting Talk. That Backlog Box is getting hammered tonight!