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Dear friends,
This is my favorite fly! :) For 2 years I was trying to take good photos, but only this beginning of September was more or less successful. It was their best weather (cold and cloudy, very wet), they like darkest places in grass and bushes near the ground... I think that it is Euthycera sp. (most probably - Eu. fumigata), but I'm not sure (as I only compared it with some photos 2 years ago and now in the DI-gallery of Sciomyzidae). These are not the same pair.

P.S. Sorry for large pictures, but...:)

Russia, near St-Petersburg (Toksovo), September 01-02, 2007

Sincerely,
Dima DD

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Another pair and view (the next day):

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Hi Dima.
1. I'd say your was very much successful in taking good photo!
2. At first glance answer E.fumigata looks the only resonable answer for me. But I have some doubts:
- Eu.fumigata wasn't recorded from Russia so far. It wasn't recorded from Petersburg area by Stackelberg. There isn't specimens of Eu.fumigata in Moscow Zool Museum collection. I have only one specimen of this fly from the Netherlands.
- there is some difference between my specimen and flies on your images.
Have you collected material to get out this doubts?
Nikita

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P.S. Another question: I wonder did Kahis ever collect E.fumigata in Finland? :o

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Only Euthycera chaerophylli in Finland according to "Draft Catalogue of Finnish Flies" (2007).

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BTW. Very nice photos!

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Hello, Nikita and crex, thank you! :)
Yes, I also realized that only Eu. chaerophylli is now present in the "Draft Catalogue of Finnish Flies" (Finland is not so far from Toksovo, if not to say stronger...), and that my fly is not Eu. chaerophylli. At least, wing pattern is clearly different, scutellum too... However, I'm not sure about the genus too (e.g. Limnia? but I see more roundy flagellomeres on my fly, if I'm not mistaken...).
Unfortunately (as usual... as always... :( ) I didn't collected them, yet. I will try - if it is not too late, and if I'll visit Toksovo within the next few days/weeks.
Nikita, what differences have you recognized? What features are discriminative? Is it possible to find them on photos of living specimen? I have more photos of this sciomyzid... Also, I can try to collect specimen and to take micro-photos of the most interesting views and parts (as the first quick step, besides sending fly itself).

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I'm not near my specimen, but color of mesonotum differs.

To tell you truth I'd prefer to examen genitalia, to get out all questions, Euthycera is problematic genus.
Limnia has hairs on mesopleura.
Nikita

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Yes, Nikita - it seems that mesopleura is entirely bare...

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Dima, I compared your fly with my specimen of E.fumigata, it looks OK.
I will be very grateful to you, if you'll collect some (1-5) specimens, this year or next year.
Nikita

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I just want to say that your images are of an amazing quality, congratulations! WIth a cloudy day and living insects, I wonder how you were able to make them. What king of light did you use?
Best regards,

Joaquim Gaspar
Lisboa, Portugal

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I think you have found the northernmost E. fumigata ever recorded!

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Nikita, I already decided to collect them and send you (this year - if it's not too late, though). These flies are not so scarce in Toksovo (but it's not "everyday fly" :)). I searched and found here very helpful threads about preparing and sending specimens, thank to all contributors!

Joaquim, I use internal flash on my Sony CyberShot R1 camera (+ 1-2 good macrolenses). However, with a set of self-made and low-cost equipment for light reflection and diffusion. You can see:
http://macroclub....pos=-11734 - overview
http://macroclub....pos=-11733 - some detail
http://macroclub....pos=-10068 - the cheapest device!:D
The "heart" of the system is white collar made of sheet thermo-isolating material (foamed polyethylene) used in house-building. Its thickness is about 3..5 mm. Some kinds of this materal are covered by foil (e.g. on my reflector).

Kahis, I have two ideas:
1) Many areas of European Russia are poorly investigated dipterologically. But I don't know.
2) Toksovo is very local and specific place because of its rare glacial topography. Relatively high (near 50 m above lakes, 100 m above sea-level) steep hills and small, narrow, deep and warm valleys (somewhere covered by wild blackberry bushes!) with a wide variety of biotopes. While all surrounding territory is very flat, with colder winters... It's possible that some insects reached these places at warmest years (centures?) and preserved in valleys. To say, this Cerambycidae beetle (Oberea pupillata) is also present in Toksovo but not recorded in other territory of NW Russia: http://macroclub....illata.jpg
May be, the second idea is more attractive, but the first one is more probable...:|