#1
This rather British looking fly was actually photographed in Zambia. Is it just me, or does it have a Melanostoma look to it?
Location: Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia.
Habitat: sparse vegetation in shade on out-of-use private dirt road.
Date: 25 February 2013
Size... not huge, perhaps 6-8mm?
#5
So, a list of species that this could be, based on range alone (all known afrotropical species, excluding species known only from Madagascar).
Melanostoma babyloussa (known from Cameroon)
M. alticola, (from Kenya and Tanzania)
M. aenoscutum (Lesotho)
M. bituberculatum (widespread, from South Africa to Yemen)
M. annulipes (widespread, from Guinea-Bissau to Kenya)
M. violaceum (South Africa)
M. trochanteratum (South Africa)
M. sulphuripes (South Africa)
M. subbituberculatum (Madagascar, Congo, Cote D'Ivoire)
M. simplex (Burundi)
M. pyrophaenoides (Tanzania, Congo)
M. infuscatum (Widespread, from Zimbabwe North to Kenya/Congo)
M. gymnocera (Zimbabwe, Cote D'Ivoire, Socotra)
M. floripeta (Tanzania, Kenya)
M. flavipleurum (South Africa)
...and now to start eliminating them...