BRITISH BLOWFLIES (CALLIPHORIDAE) AND WOODLOUSE FLIES (RHINOPHORIDAE)

Draft key to British Calliphoridae and Rhinophoridae Steven Falk 2016
Bellardia bayeri male (right, Photo: Andreas Haselböck) and female head (right). Notice the brownish
lower calypter of the male and the dark mark at the top of the parafrontalia of the female.
Habitat & biology Several British records are from woods featuring mature and
fallen Beech trees. The Coventry female was found in a suburban kitchen at night,
seemingly attracted by artificial lighting. In Russia it has been reared from the
earthworm Eisenia foetida. In Britain it has been reared from puparia found under the
bark of Beech whilst in Denmark it has been reared from a puparium found under elm
bark.
Status & distribution Known in Britain from Mark Ash Wood in the New Forest,
Hampshire (1984), Newbattle Abbey, Midlothian (1994, pupa found under loose bark
of a fallen Beech), Buckingham Palace Garden, London (several specimens from
malaise trap samples in 1995), Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire (one male from a
malaise trap in 1995 and another reared from a puparium found under bark of a Beech
log), and Coventry, West Midlands (one female found indoors in a suburban house in
2000). John Bowden (pers. comm.) also flagged a possible female specimen taken in
Colchester in 1995, noting the brownish calypters and persistent spot on the face, but
the location of the specimen is not known.
Bellardia pandia (Walker, 1849)
Bisetose Emerald-bottle
Description & similar species WL 4.5-8.5mm. A typical-looking Bellardia with
metallic-green tergites that have a shifting pattern of dusting, and a dark-grey thorax
with shifting stripes and very slight metallic reflections. The pair of strong
Bellardia pandia male (left) and pinned female (right). You can just see the two posteroventral bristles
on the front tibia if you zoom into the male photo.
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