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Hello Bob, Nikita, Paul,

I once collected a sphaerocerid in the Netherlands that looks very much like these, which I identified as Crumomyia pedestris, with Pitkin's key.

It is relatively large for this family. Pitkin writes it occurs in grass, litter etc. (i found mine in grass tussocks), many localities in GB, and macropterous males have been found in Hungary.

I've never heard of parasitic Sphaeroceridae. Members of this family live of all kinds of decaying organic substances (dung, litter, corpses).

Louis