340. Looped Flutter Fly

This small species of fly is a relatively recent arrival in British Columbia, with the first record a photo taken 2  June  2016 in Victoria by  Eriko Yamamoto and posted on BugGuide by Talmage Bachman (https://bugguide.net/node/view/1544782) (Cannings and Gibson 2019). It belongs to a group of flies known as Flutter Flies some of which vibrate their wings when they are at rest or when walking.  This species, (Toxonevra muliebris), is native to Europe and has a distinctive wing pattern with a loop marking on the forewing, making it one of the easiest Flutter Flies to identify.  
Since the initial discovery there have been additional records of this species posted on Bug Guide and iNaturalist from Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, Greater Vancouver, south to the San Juan Islands and Seattle. This record can be found on iNaturalist here:  https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/286287362 .  Almost all the records of this species in North America are from indoors, and our record from Leaning Oaks is no exception, this picture was taken in our kitchen.  
In Europe the species is found outdoors, with the larvae found under bark and is thought to feed mostly on beetle larvae.  Indoor specimens in Europe are thought to feed on Dermestid (carpet beetle) larvae.  It is assumed that the largely indoor records of this species in BC and Washington likely means that they are feeding on carpet beetle larvae here as well.  
BC has at least six native species of Flutter Flies (Cannings and Scudder 2005), but they are considerably more difficult to identify to species than this one.  
Folks that find this species are encouraged to post photos on iNaturalist or Bug Guide in order to document the timing and distribution of this new addition to our fauna and note if the specimen is found indoors or outdoors.
Literature Cited 
Cannings,  R.A.  and  Scudder,  G.G.E.  2005.  The  true  flies  (Diptera)  of  British Columbia. In  E-Fauna  BC:  Electronic  Atlas  of  the  Fauna  of  British  Columbia [www.efauna.bc.ca]. Edited  by  B.  Klinkenberg,  2018.  Lab  for Advanced  Spatial Analysis, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Cannings, R.A. and J. Gibson.  2019. Toxonevra muliebris(Harris) (Diptera: Pallopteridae): a European fly new to North America.  Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia.  116. Pp 64-67. https://journal.entsocbc.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/2473
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