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I think this is Melanogaster hirtella. Can anyone confirm? Male, 7mm, from 17 June 2006, east London cemetery park.

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Another view.

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Hi Susan,

I see there's still no answer.
It sure looks like M. hirtella, that is if the third antennal segment is indeed entirely black and not orange, which is difficult to see in these pictures. Nevertheless, if they are black you will still need to dissect the genitalia to be entirely sure it's not M. aerosa.

John

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John

Thanks for this. I based my ID on Stubbs' key and descriptions. The third antennal segment appears to be dusted, but there is no orange. I'm not up to dissecting genitalia unfortunately. This specimen does have the pale hairs mixed in with the black on the thorax in the way Stubbs describes it for M hirtella (with M aerosa having entirely black hair). Also according to Ball and Morris's Atlas, M hirtella is widespread and common in the UK, whilst M aerosa is mainly northern and western (the specimen comes from the south east).