Lonchaea chorea
Lonchaea chorea is easily distinguished within the group with all black tarsomeres, pale fringes to the calypterae and one stigmatical seate by being the only European species to have several setulae present posterior to the strong katepisternal setae (occasionally one or two present in L. postica). Additionally, L. chorea males are relatively long-haired, the average length of hairs on the thoracic dorsum being at least half the length of the orbital bristle and the hairs on the scutellar margin are often in multiserial rows. The ventral fringes of setulae on the tarsomeres are black.
Unlike other European Lonchaea species the larvae of L. chorea are not primarily associated with decaying wood but have been found in a wide range of substrates including rotting vegetables, compost heaps, silage and manure This wide range of larval substrates has allowed L. chorea to vbecome one of the commonest Lonchaeids in the western Palearctic. It often occurs in gardens and urban areas and is usually well represented in museum collections.
Reared from fungus growing on a beech (Fagus) log Scotland 2015.