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When on holiday in the South of France, in Provence, I photographed this fly. Since I'm more into dragonflies and butterflies than other insects, I'm looking for help in identifying this pretty creature. One suggestion made to me is that this may be Peleteria cf rubescens. Is that correct? Its antennae are black all over.

http://observado....ly_rated=0

Thanks a lot, :)

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Sorry Nick - I don't think that the link works - try uploading it here :) Just be sure to make sure that filenames have no spaces or unnecessary punctuation and that the files are <190KB.

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Sorry Chris, it worked from here but I'll try adding the pix.

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Looks like Tachinidae!! :)

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Hi Nick - yes that's better - we like to have the photos uploaded anyway because they'll get backed-up on the server and remain here, allowing people to search for them and look at them in years to come. If they're on an external site then it's all too easy for them to get deleted or moved and then the link is broken. :)

The fly indeed looks like a Peleteria sp. ... you can just make out the "Peleteria-bristles" on the parafacial, but also the body shape and general proportions rule out the Tachina spp. Sadly though it would be difficult to go much further without a specimen ... though it looks quite like a lot of P.varia that I have seen, as a rough stab in the dark ;)

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thanks a lot Chris, I have no idea what to photograph to ensure correct identification, and I'm not likely to take specimens, I rarely if ever do for anything else. So I guess this fly will be 'peleteria spec' or an uncertain 'p. varia'; bad luck but no drama.

If you can give me hints as to photography for identification, I'll be glad to keep them in mind for next time :)

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For identification purposes you just need to take a *lot* of photos from every angle that you can think of or get to at the time. There are no rules that work for all groups so you just have to try a scatter-gun approach and get as much of the morphology recorded as you possibly can in the short time that the fly gives you ;)

As a good rule of thumb, try a good dorsal of the body (so we can see wing venation, scutellum and all the bristles); lateral of the body (again for bristles and a bit of head); and anterolateral head shot (for the head bristles, eyes hairs and anything like a protruding mouth edge) :)

If you can take specimens of tachinids then I'd be more than happy to identify them for you and give them a home here in my reference collection ;)

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Chris, thanks a lot. I'll remember both tips and the hint you want to add to your collection ;-)

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To my experience P. rubescens and varia are both quite common in Provence and there is quite some variation in the colors (as in Tachina), so I would not guess further...