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Photo#1793132
Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma

Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma
Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland, USA
March 26, 2020
Size: body ~5mm
Sapromyza brachysoma but I don't have access to Shewell's 1938 paper (1) so I've put together what info I could find to try to make sure it wasn't a different species in this genus:

Nearctica (2) lists 10 species of Sapromyza but ITIS says 2 are invalid ("Sapromyza amida Walker" = Neogriphoneura sordida, and "Sapromyza slossonae Coquillett" = Poecilominettia slossonae). Info on all but one of the others can be found in a 1913 paper by Melander ( A Synopsis of the Sapromyzidae, Psyche, 20(2): 57-82) and in photos at UBC (S cyclops, S. hyalinata, S. monticola, S. nigripalpus, S. rotundicornis)


Between the Melander paper and the UBC photos, there's enough info to rule out everything but S. brachysoma and S. connexa. Say described S. connexa as a yellowish species so that one should be excluded as well (The Complete Writings of Thomas Say on the Entomology of North America, Volume 2)

TIA

Images of this individual: tag all
Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma Sapromyza - Sapromyza brachysoma

Moved
Moved from Flies.

There's also a key by Malloch
There's also a key by Malloch and McAtee here for at least the eastern United States: https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/15328

Use the Nearctic catalogue to help, too, maybe: https://naldc-legacy.nal.usda.gov/naldc/download.xhtml?id=CAT87208336&content=PDF

 
Thanks
The Malloch and McAtee has 5 of the species in the "Sapromyza"; most of the other species in that key are now in other genera. It looks like S. brachysoma is the only species they list as being found in the DC area. The proximity to the Smithsonian means that this area has been pretty thoroughly scrutinized.

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