''Dictya umbrarum '' is a species of fly in the family

Sciomyzidae The family (biology), family Sciomyzidae belongs to the typical flies (Brachycera) of the order (biology), order Fly, Diptera. They are commonly called marsh flies, and in some cases snail-killing flies due to the food of their larvae. Here, t ...

. It is found in the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

and

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America ...

. Long. : 4-5 mm. Intensely spotted wings. The interocular space with a black mark at the anterior orbital. The face is white with a black or brown central point. The antennae are reddish, the arista yellow at the base. The body is black (au fond) covered in a grey yellow pruinosity with shifting (changeant) brown spots on the abdomen. The femora are grey with a brown apical band. The tibia are yellow with a brown apical ring (anneau). For terms see

Morphology of Diptera Dipteran morphology differs in some significant ways from the broader insect morphology, morphology of insects. The Diptera is a very large and diverse Order (biology), order of mostly small to medium-sized insects. They have prominent compound ey ...

. ''Dictya montana'' is a predator of aquatic pulmonate snails with no apparent parasitoid tendency. R. J. McDonnell,T.D. Paine, R. E. Orth and M. J. Gormally,2007 Life history and biocontrol potential of ''Dictya montana'' Steyskal, 1954 (Diptera: Sciomyzidae) a, snail-killing fly ''The Pan-Pacific Entomologist'' 83(2):101-109(2007)

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Images representing ''Dictya umbrarum ''
at BOLD Sciomyzidae Flies described in 1758 Diptera of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Sciomyzoidea-stub