Phaonia pallida

Length about 7 mm. An orange fly with a very hairy thorax.

Thricops diaphanus is a very similar orange muscid. Females can be separated by the frontal vitta (area between eyes) which is orange in P. pallida but dark in T. diaphanus. Males will generally need microscopic examination unless they have the darkened front to the thorax which is a feature of some, but not all, male P. pallida.

Often seen in woodland.

May to September.

Larvae are associated with fungi and rotten wood.

Fairly common and widespread in England and Wales.

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland.