Comments on: St. Mark’s Fly from U.K.: Heather Fly http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/08/21/st-marks-fly-from-u-k-we-believe/ Are we experts yet? Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:22:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Heather Fly from Scotland | What's That Bug? http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/08/21/st-marks-fly-from-u-k-we-believe/comment-page-1/#comment-16676 Heather Fly from Scotland | What's That Bug? Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:56:42 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=19221#comment-16676 [...] ago, we identified a very similar St. Mark’s Fly or March fly in the genus Biblio as the Heather Fly, Biblio pomonae, with the help of Karl who frequently contributes identifications to our [...] [...] ago, we identified a very similar St. Mark’s Fly or March fly in the genus Biblio as the Heather Fly, Biblio pomonae, with the help of Karl who frequently contributes identifications to our [...]

]]> By: kkroeker http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/08/21/st-marks-fly-from-u-k-we-believe/comment-page-1/#comment-10795 kkroeker Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:39:47 +0000 http://www.whatsthatbug.com/?p=19221#comment-10795 Hi Karl: There are apparently 13 species of ‘March Flies’ in the genus Bibio listed for Great Britain. From what I can tell the closest match to yours is B. pomonae; the Heather Fly. It was the only one I could find with red colouring on the legs that doesn’t extend beyond the femur. The peak of the flying season in GB is July-August so the timing would be right. The species is very widely distributed in Europe, Iceland to Russia and down to the Mediterranean. According to some references it prefers higher elevations, hence the common name; others give hedgerows as the preferred habitat. The larvae feed on roots and the adults eat nectar, so I suppose your bites remain a mystery. For reference you could check out http://www.diptera.info/photogallery.php?photo_id=865 or http://www.commanster.eu/commanster/Insects/Flies/SuFlies/Bibio.pomonae.html. Nice photos bye the way. Regards. K Hi Karl:

There are apparently 13 species of ‘March Flies’ in the genus Bibio listed for Great Britain. From what I can tell the closest match to yours is B. pomonae; the Heather Fly. It was the only one I could find with red colouring on the legs that doesn’t extend beyond the femur. The peak of the flying season in GB is July-August so the timing would be right. The species is very widely distributed in Europe, Iceland to Russia and down to the Mediterranean. According to some references it prefers higher elevations, hence the common name; others give hedgerows as the preferred habitat. The larvae feed on roots and the adults eat nectar, so I suppose your bites remain a mystery. For reference you could check out http://www.diptera.info/photogallery.php?photo_id=865 or http://www.commanster.eu/commanster/Insects/Flies/SuFlies/Bibio.pomonae.html. Nice photos bye the way. Regards. K

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