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@ pwalter: It's true that it has not been seen for over 150 years, but then again not many people scrutinize skeletonized carcasses for flies.

@ Stephen R: Should be. I've always funded all my carcass experiments out of my own pocket though.

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Meant putting a Government Funding Official out for bait, as Gordon's funding has ceased.... as in his Shoutbox Comment. Not asking for funding for a carcass ...which Department would you ask?

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OK - As it happens I noticed a medium sized dog road-kill on the way back from the site yesterday, so just now I have moved it to the Roupel Gorge site (which is some 50 ms or more from the nearest road). I don't have any mesh so we will have to share it with the Ravens. I didn't have much time today but I did a few sweeps with the net over the old bones but on checking now I see no Centrophlebomyia furcata in the catch. I will have more time for carcass watching tomorrow.

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Roger my funding did not cease - there never was any - just a lot of promises which now seem to have been empty. Three times the EU has agreed to pay for this survey to be done and three times the Greek government have messed it up by taking so long to sign a few pieces of paper that the deadline for taking the money has passed (or in this case will have passed at the end of the year, but they assure me nothing will be done before then). It's just a case of total indolance and incredible incompetance.

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Good luck, and keep us posted about your carcass findings!

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Just out of curiosity, is this the Kerkini you mean: http://tiny.cc/Ke...

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Dear Gordon, now I have finished to make up myself, I accept your offer of the female C. furcata.

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Hi Gordon
Sorry to hear of your woes out there. This seems to have been happening to you for a while out there, looking back through old threads. Too many Jobsworths in Government.

Hi Stephane....what's this about getting the make-up on? That must have taken a while , sensible shoes or heels?
Now I'll have to ditch the Anagram I made from your name..Le Phanne Buster doesn't seem right anymore , then again with the sensible shoes..

Organsmoother

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Hi Stephane - thanks for the forgiveness - you know no insult was intended - unlike Roger I do not deliberately distort people's gender. I will send them out sometime in the future when I run out of dead dogs. You know of course that make up was invented in ancient Egypt and it was completely transgender in those days. It was orignally about protecting the eyes from glare when cutting stone - they even had workers strikes if the authorities did not supply it as needed. Or so the BBC told me.

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Dear Brundler Fly - yes your link is to the village of Kerkini on the western edge of Lake Kerkini - Roupel's Gorge where the dead dogs are is somewhat to the east - enlarge the map and follow the river upstram from the lake until it turns seriously north - the dogs are about 1km into the gorge - maybe you will see me if you are in satellite mode. It is all part of the Wetland Kerkini National Park.

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Well I now have some more flies that look a lot like C. furcata, but the variation in size is more thsn 100% so maybe the larger ones are something else.

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Location data = 41-17'28,3 north and 023-19'47,0 east.

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As with Thyreophora, according to McAlpine (1977) some authors thought that also this species would be extinct. He also mentiones that these species are more active in the cold season when nobody is collecting... Go ahead Gordon! Against the wind and snow, make dipterological history.

They have also been reported from Central Europe, so the season is starting. Visit the butchers' first...

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What would you recommend to find them? Some bones with some meat?

Do You guys think what Gordon found is a remote population, maybe one of the lasts or is it more abundant but rarely seen? Do they lay eggs also in cold season?

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I suspect the population is spread across northern Greece - but no-one is sampling - don't forget I have done a lot of malaise trapping here - 7 traps in 2007 and 20 sites in all, plus yellowpans and these are the first i have found. Besides road kills livestock die - goats, sheep, cows etc. Often they just lie where they fall - there were several cows and a buffalo along the river nearer the lake last spring for instance. The bones are still around. One question is how far do the adults disperse from a given carcass. Another is are they restricted to lowland. I am watching for larvae and I am sure I saw some small white movement in a crevice yesterday.

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I suppose they breed inside the bones, but so does the other Piophilids as well. There is also Coleopterans like Necrobia spp. that go in there. I do not think it is known if they hunt for Piophilid larvae or feed of the marrow.

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There has been quite a lot of this going on so I guess they must be laying eggs somewhere. Photo 29-11-2009 - these two are much bigger than the other Piophilid.

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Do you have an overview picture of the dog remains? Could be interesting to see what state they are in when they attract Centrophlebomyia.

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Dear Brundlefly,
Here is a photo of the first dog's remains - as I found it on the 23rd November. I photographed Centrophlebomyia furcata on the carcass on that day, but I don't know if it was there earlier. The legs of the tripod are 53 cm long when closed up as they are in the picture.

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This fly is among one of the most amazing thing in the Universe. Please collect for me that fantastic fly. This is almost in the top of wish list of flies!