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Toiling hard at work (sorry place of employment) going through old files and I found this poor photo (taken at a lit window at Scatsta Airport, August 2008) in among heaps of unidentifiable Sphaerophoridae, thought to be one of them mainly due to the large arista, but it is obviously not one of those.
I think it may be Oecothea fenestralis Heleomyzidae. Using the Forum Search, in the old threads mention is made of the bristles on the mid tibia which this has, plus the small eyes. Am I correct. If so, another unrecorded species in Shetland.
If not correct...what else can it be?

Regards Roger

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Oecothea certainly: may also be praecox (which you can't tell just by looking).

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Thanks Phil
I'm happy enough with Oecothea sp. although getting to species would have been better. Either way it is an unrecorded genus up here. Odd looking fly B).

Regards from the frozen :| (again) North,
Roger

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Oecothea fenestralis ! O. praecox is a troglobite ;)

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Not in my experience ! I think these two are often confused (and misidentified) - the editum seems to be the only reliable way to separate them.

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Hope this isn't going to end up in a punch-up guys. I was looking over old threads and found that O.fenestralis larvae live in small mammals burrows;http://www.dipter...d_id=16648. Well Scatsta Airport and the surrounding area is plagued with rabbits (they cull several times a year to keep down on them), so plenty of burrows. Just something that might sway it one way or another.
OR NOT?
Regards Roger

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Hmm, we can talk also about sky and stars :D
O. fenestralis is in my opinion correct !

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As long as neither of you end up seeing stars following the aforementioned punch-up.
Having previously been in a bad car accident, I can confirm that hard blows to the head does cause the illusion of seeing stars......not recommended.
Well Phil, over to you...
Should you prove to be wrong....by way of compensation here is a link to a site you MIGHT like..http://www.bellyu..., great site assuming the don't go bust before tomorrow :|

Regards Roger :)

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I think it's about time this issue was resolved finally - I'll get on to preparing some drawings and try to sort out the distinctions with Andrej - watch this space... in any event, you've got a new genus for the island !

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Okay, O. praecox is a troglobyte. Does that mean the key in Czerny is not reliable? I have here Oecothea, but with the antenna yellowish red, so.....The specimen is from Nunspeet, the Netherlands...not a cave or grotto within many miles....

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Interesting discussion! I've also several specimens I identified as O. praecox from an area (Tilburg, the Netherlands) where no cave is to be found anywhere near. Of course, my identification may be wrong :).
Anyway I will be following this discussion!

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Well, Jan Willem, after sending my previous message I looked at some Oecothea's from the caves in Zuid Limburg. Yes, the antennae are yellowish, but I can't say that the antennae of the "true" fenestralis are blackish, because they are certainly not.
I am too lazy to go upstairs now, but I believe that in Laci's key no drawing of the genitals of praecox is given. I wonder whether it is very similar as fenestralis.
I am very curious for Andrzej's opinion.

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I put on TaxNet the article of Carles-Tolra about the female Oecothea ushinskii. It is indeed a pity that he did not put a drawing of O. praecox and even worse it is a pity that I do not have a description of the male O. ushinskii. In fact it would have been nice to have a good key to all European Oecothea species. Any way, having said this, looking at the "O. praecox" from the Netherlands, which I have here, so from the Amsterdam collection, which are collected in caves, it is possible that they are O. ushinskii, since the palpus are indeed as drawn by Carles-Tolra.
Does any body has a good drawing of the palpus of a true praecox?

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Hmm, Ruud !
Did you know Gorodkov work on Oecothea from 1959 ?
Andrzej

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No, that is, yes I heard of it, no, I do not have a copy of it.

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So, no more comments about it :|

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As I indicated I have the article of Carles-Tolra (1997) with the drawings of females ushinkii and fenestralis. I have Gorodkov's work in Bei-Bienko and of course the key of Laci with the Hungarian species