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There were many many flies on this section of lake shore and I suspect a fisherman had cleaned his fish here.

Maybe not enough detail to say for certain, but maybe two species of Calliphoridae and one Muscid?

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Well, I agree with Calliphoridae and Muscidae.
The Calliphoridae seem to be 1 male and 2 females of Lucilia, they could very well represent the same species.
The Muscidae would be something like Morellia,
but remember this is the Old World speaking !


Theo Zeegers

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Thanks, Theo! We in the New World do share Morellia with you. According to nearctica.com we have three species, M. micans, M. podagrica, and M. scapulata.

On the Calliphorids, the male looking more robust I had thought it might be a different species for that reason. Another thing I wondered about is that the two females are holding their wings differently from the male, but perhaps that is not an important thing?

Thanks again for your help.

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I hesitate to disagree with Theo (experience tells me this is not a good idea! ), but I don't think the females are Lucilia. They're certainly not the same species as the male - much smaller scutellum, and a different bend in vein M (just visible on the upper fly). They may even be muscids - something close to Dasyphora. The angle at which they hold the wings is not always a good character, but it is a clue. In both Muscidae and Calliphoridae there are genera which tend to hold the wings out, and those which tend to overlap them.
I agree about the Morellia.

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Ah well the problem with this kind of group shot is that you don't get as many details for identification as you would when zooming in on a single fly. Thank-you Tony and Theo for the comments. I am slowly learning what characters to look for!

Question: Is it generally safe in Muscidae and Calliphoridae to say that the flies with the eyes touching up above are males, and if the eyes are well-separated they are females? I have never been clear on which families (if any) this rule is true for.

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Well, Tony,
in case on non-Tachinidae your judgement is easily superior to mind.

Like in this case

Theo

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THe larger species could be a Lucilia the smaller species a Phormia. But do not consider these IDs anywhere near sure.