Flies and gnats

Mosquito (from the Spanish or Portuguese meaning little fly)] is a common insect in the family Culicidae (from the Latin culex meaning midge or gnat). Mosquitoes resemble crane flies (family Tipulidae) and chironomid flies (family Chironomidae), with which they are sometimes confused by the casual observer (ref: Wikipedia). Female mosquito, made with magnification factor 4 and f/14 (7D).

Compound eye large dance fly (Empididae), made with magnification factor 7 and f/9.

Female common horse fly, made with magnification factor 3 and f/16. There is a small waterdrop on her right eye. The common horse fly or cleg-fly has an interesting Latin name: Haematopota pluvialis = blooddrinker of the rains (ref: The Garden Safari).

Portrait of the spotted crane-fly (Nephrotoma appendiculata). The photo has been made with magnification factor 4 and f/13. Crane flies are a type of fly in the family Tipulidae. Crane flies look like big mosquitoes. Unlike mosquitoes, crane flies do not bite people or animals (source: Wikipedia).

Anisopodidae is a small cosmopolitan family of gnat-like flies known as wood gnats or window-gnats. Frontal view made with magnification factor 8 and f/8. Size estimated around 5 mm.

Portrait of black lesser dung fly [Sepsis Fulgens]. Size around 5 mm. Made with magnification 6 and f/11 (7D).

Dagger fly

Picture small dagger fly, made with magnification 8 and f/11 using a Canon 7D, a Canon MP-E 65mm/2.8 and a Canon 2x teleconverter. The picture is a single picture, made without a tripod in our garden while the fly was going its own business. Empididae is a family of flies with over 3,000 described species occurring worldwide in all the Ecozones but the majority are found in the Holarctic. They are mainly predatory flies like most of their relatives in the Empidoidea, and exhibit a wide range of forms but are generally small to medium sized, non-metallic and rather bristly. Common names for members of this family are dagger flies (referring to the sharp piercing mouthparts of some species) and balloon flies. The term "dance flies" is sometimes used for this family too, but the dance flies proper, formerly included herein, are now considered a separate family Hybotidae (source: Wikipedia)