---

Hello everyone!

I would like to ask if someone knows any identification keys for Anthomyiidae. I'm interested in Eastern European, mostly Lithuanian, species. I have "Identification keys for insects of European part of USSR", but that is quite old book, so maybe threre are any recent sources that I haven't noticed?

Thank you in advance!

Andrius

---

One key to the genera is:
Suwa, M., & B. Darvas, 1998. Family Anthomyiidae. In: Contributions to a manual of Palaearctic Diptera Volume 3 (L. Papp & B. Darvas, eds.): 571-616. Science Herald, Budapest.

And probably the key to species is:
Hennig, W., 1966-1976. 63a. Anthomyiidae. In: Die Fliegen der pal?arktischen Region 7(1) (E. Lindner, ed.): 1-974, pl. 1-78. E. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart.

I will agree immediately, not the easiest to obtain and certainly not the cheapest. Otherwise, there are few papers I am aware of. At most a species group here and there and, if you are lucky, a whole genus is treated in a journal paper.

---

Seguy, E. 1923. Faune de France. 6 Dipteres Anthomyides. Lechevaliere, Paris. The generic keys in this work are confusing an contradictory. Some species can be identified though and I found it
very helpful indeed as a starting point.This is a very difficult family and progress can only be made when specimens identified by expert workers are available.

---

Perhaps difficult but far from the worst:|

The biggest problem here is the fact that many genera are externally similar. The genera are well-defined when using characters of male genitalia.

I definitely recomment Hennig's treatment of the Palaearctic fauna. It has good figures of male genitalia for almost all species. It's about 1000 pages but in my opinion worth photocopying (photocopying works for private use is legal at least here in Finland - for now). You can also buy it from the publisher, but it is *very* expensive, around 600?:o:(

My routine for identifying these flies is:
1. If you don't immediately know which genus, discard females.
2. Cut off end of abdomen and dissect male genitalia. For simple identification I don't use any complicated KOH softening baths. I just put the tip of abdomen in warm water for 10-15 min so it rehydrates, and then tease it apart with two needles. After examination I glue the genitalia on a small cardboard square and pin it together with the fly.
3. Grab 'the Hennig' and browse through the genitalia figures until you find a decent match.
4. Go back to genus & species-level keys and check if genitalia-ID match morpho-ID
5. Check against Hennig's detailed description

For a much more professional reply, contact Verner Michelsen. He lives in Denmark and certainly is the best source for literature recommendations etc.

---

Thank you, Kahis,
I was thinking about photocopying, but had no source to borrow that book. And now I am a little away from Anthomyiidae, but your suggestions will definitely be used in the nearest future :)
Andrius