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Campiglossa loewiana? Tephritis conura? Something else entirely? If you can ID it, I'd be interested to know what plant it is associated with, and what its status is in the UK.

From Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, east London - inner city site, fairly dense deciduous woodland with grassy clearings and glades and a number of ponds with nice lushly vegetated margins, not too overgrown, 19 May 2007, 3mm.

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Looks like the Tephritis conura I caught in Portugal. But I want to have a good check on that specimen too, so let's wait for John Smit... :|

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My first guess is Tephritis neesii


John

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At least, it is a Tephritis. I'd better let it run through Ian's key to British Fruit Flise at home to be absolutely sure. That section of Tephritis is damned variable, and I'd rather unsure even about local beasts.

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Thanks guys - any further info you can provide would be gratefully received - I don't have any literature for Tephritids.

T neesii seems a reasonable suggestion based on the number of records for this species up the Thames Estuary and Lea Valley. The park is very close to where the Lea flows into the Thames, and we get a lot of the species present in the estuary.

On the other hand, I thought the wing pattern seems more like Dima's pics http://www.dipter...to_id=1611 of T conura. I don't know how variable this is likely to be though.

T neesii seems to have an association with Leucanthemum vulgare Oxeye Daisy - is this the larval host plant, or just a favourite for adults feeding?

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Susan:

The Ian White's key (1988; Handbk Id. Br. Ins. 10, 5a) does not work 4 these 2 species. In 1994, Bernhard Merz has shown the dark posterior notopleural seta to be the best to separate T. conura from other European Tephritis. That boy has certainly a white npl seta, and the other chars meet descriptions of T. neesii (Meigen 1830), which it certainly is, as John Smit (thanckx John!) suggested.

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Many thanks, really helpful Valery. :D