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Hello Platypalpus friends (I know you are few!),
Though I deleted most of my photos of these difficult flies there are some left that I would like to show you. This is a light one with yellow legs, met in Berlin in last May. Can it be put into an agg.?
Many thanks, Sundew

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Hi Sundew,

Sorry, these pics are unidentifiable. I could note that this species belongs to the P. pallidiventris – cursitans group but this is almost nothing because the group is too large (and the most difficult within the genus), and many species are quite cryptic. Generally, the dorso-lateral aspect is the best for the identification of Platypalpus after pics. The dorsal view is almost useless.

All the best,

Igor Shamshev

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Hello Igor,
Thanks for the valuable explanations! So no more dorsal pics. A name of a group, though being large, is fine nevertheless, as it helps me a bit to understand the taxonomy of this interesting genus. (I like these small guys that are met everywhere on the leaves and are always busy.)
So here is a lateral view, not of the same individual, but one with yellow legs; may be, it's the same taxon. Is this view more helpful? Otherwise the group is ok.
Regards, Sundew

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Hi,

That is good case and the new photo is Platypalpus cursitans (Fabricius, 1775) female.
This view is very good to identify Platypalpus species because we can see many important characters, e.g. shining patch on sternopleura (absent in this species), colour of legs (especially on tarsi), shape of the mid tibial spur, etc. Wing venation is not so important for Platypalpus identification, however, there are some exceptions.

All the best,

Igor

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Great - I'll add the pic to the gallery. Thank you very much, Igor.