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Norway, 04.09, I guess 3 mm

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and dorsal view

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Hybotidae. Very nice. ;)

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Trichinomyia flavipes

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Thank you, according to wikipedia only T. fuscipes is registered in Norway.

How would you tell the two apart? I have pics of a different specimen with shiny wings, it might be different lighting, though.

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LoL, I need to check. I thought we only had one European species. ;)

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Here's a pic of the ones I see with shinier wings.. again it might be the light that day

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According to Fauna Europaea both species are known from Norway.

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I forgot to check there :| Thanks Jan

But how to tell them apart? Does anyone know?

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I'll check in my handbook, when I can find the box in which I have stored it...

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Just from the name, wouldn't fuscipes have darker legs? Or is this too naive?

Stephen.

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I am now 100% sure there are 2 "types" as I have seen both side by side yesterday:

type 1: (pic 1 & 2) clear wings abdomen shorter (longer wings?) than type 2.

type 2: golden wings, maybe thinker antennae?

Could it be sexual differences?

Also I tried to compare wing venation (pic 2) with Trichinomyia flavipes here: http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2006f/zt01180p172.pdf, did not look right to me, but as you know I am a clod.

I changed the title as the matter is not solved.

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All are males, so no sexual difference. Most of the visible differences between the second and third image are due to orientation. The third image was taken slightly more from the side, resulting in a different reflection on the wings (age might also influce that, by the way) and apparently thicker antennae. All specimens are T. flavipes. Trichinomyia fuscipes indeed has darker legs and should have a brightly shining mesonotum. On these images a weak dusting is visible. It also is smaller than flavipes but thatwill not show up in the images ;)

The only 'issue' I might have with the wing as depicted in the pdf and that as shown in the images is the apparently lack of an anal vein in the printed illustration. The anal vein is weakly sclerotised and not darkened and thus will not show up very easily on photo's taken from flattened wings on microscope slides. Your images show all the structural details made visible by lighting from the side, including the fold of the anal vein.

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Thanks Paul.

I need to say that I am 110% sure there's much more to the difference in colour than the orentation vs light, no matter which angle: they still are either brown/golden or trensparent. You mention age as a possibility, it makes sense I guess.

I noticed that this one from yesterday has yellow hairs on the scutellum and is generally much lighter, is it a female? (Different positioning of the eyes?)

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It is a female (eyes narrowly separated) and it appears to be relatively freshly emerged as the abdominal segments are more greyish than black, too. Thge chances are that the colours will all become darker later on and that the reflection on the wings will increase. Also note that it quite often happens that males emerge before females, so you might just be witnessing this. First pictures are males and the later ones also include females, some of which are indeed freshly emerged. Yeah, I know, too good to be true. :P

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Thank you for taking the trouble!