Manx robber fly
The Manx robber fly (Machimus cowini, ) is one of 7,100 species of robber fly or Asilidae known throughout the world, and one of 28 asilids known to occur in the British Isles. Distribution and habitat The Manx robber fly was first discovered on the Isle of Man in the 1940s, hence the name 'Manx', meaning from the Isle of Man, although this species has been referred to as the Irish robber fly in British Soldierflies and their Allies. It was originally thought to be endemic to the island but has since also been found across the Irish Sea on sand dunes on the east coast of Ireland. There is only one authenticated record from the United Kingdom. Speight also found the fly in Germany in 1987 and has identified flies from museum specimens collected from north Germany, the Netherlands, northern France and Hungary to be M. cowini, not M. cingulatus as formerly believed. It was first discovered in curragh (willow carr/swamp) habitat in the north of Isle of Man and was recorded there again in the mid-1990s, when a pair was caught in a pan trap by Steve Crellin, a local entomologist. Although found in the curragh, this pair