I’m still as perplexed about the identity of this fly as I was on March 13 of last year. At the time I thought it might be a Milichiid, but I think it’s probably too large for that. Bev suggested a Flat-footed fly, one of the Platypezidae, but I don’t see any images at Bugguide that ring a bell.

There were quite a few of these little flies flitting about above the leaf litter. They invariably alit upon the ends of twigs, as this one has. There’s a predatory air about this behavior.



The images here are only slightly better than those of last year. That’s partly because this is really a tiny fly, and partly because I haven’t had much practice photographing tiny insects in the last few months! The outstanding feature is the size of the hind femur, as well as the tibia. Those are some hind legs!



Two other features - the banded abdomen just visible in the top photo, and the “control box” thingie on the back just behind the eyes, remind me of a syrphid fly, but if there’s a ringer in the bunch at Bugguide I must have missed it.