| Author | Smith, K.V.G. |
| Year | 1989 |
| Title | An Introduction to the immature stages of British Flies |
| ISBN | 0 901546 75 5 |
| Series | Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects |
| Type | Book/Report |
| How Complete | Immature stages of British Flies down to family, subfamily or genus. |
| Source | Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, Vol 10, part 14, 280pp, The Royal Entomological Society of London |
| Illustrations | Nearly 10 pages of line drawings at the back |
| Review (by Malcolm Storey) | Introductory chapters cover ecology, field craft, technique etc. The first key is to suborders of British diptera larvae (since most Diptera form a puparium - ie they pupate inside the final larval instar - the key applies equally to puparia, although the parts may be harder to see). This is followed by keys to families and the individual family accounts for each of the three suborders. Some families have further keys to subfamilies or genera. The family accounts are reasonably detailed and are broken down into subfamilies, genera or even species for small families. The British fauna are discussed, the ecology of the larvae is given and records are cited. 22 pages of references follow. The index is comprehensive and includes pabula, eg "Rust" takes you to page 54 where you learn that the common orange larvae on rusts on plants are Mycodiplosis spp (Cecidomyiidae). |
| Examine |  Stereo Microscope ( Compound Microscope is also useful) |
| Specimen Preparation | Live or killed larvae, puparia etc. See page 21 for techniques. Specimens are best identified before making permanent microscope slide preps as they will need to be viewed from different angles. |
| Identification difficulty | Varied. Many of the more distinctive groups can be identified from the drawings. The keys are surprisingly straight-forward. |
| Website url | www.royensoc.co.uk/publications/index.htm |
