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Last sunday I saw my first sure Phasia hemiptera, very nice! This made me doubt an earlier determination as such. First, these flies were smaller (in my memory at least! - date 7 August 2007, so memory not too reliable...). Moreover, the wing of the male (?) is entirely dusky, without any stripes, nor with blueish reflections. Third, the scutellum is black, not yellow as in P. hemiptera.

Can my initial determination of these flies as P. hemiptera ne confirmed or corrected?

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And this is probably the opposite sex - I guessed the male!

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Male from another angle.

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And, just to be sure, my sunday P. hemiptera

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The orange hairs on the side of the thorax mean it must be P.hemiptera

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Thanks, Chris! It's awfully variable species, then! But I'm happy now to know what to look for.

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Yes, I was talking today with another dipterist who said he's seen a lot of very pale-coloured specimens this year. They were large, very orange and had reduced markings on the wing, but they all keyed well to P.hemiptera.