My Precious. Eristalinus taeniops, Band-eyed Drone Fly, Garden, Funchal, Madeira
The weather hasn't been very good here: rather dark and almost raining but just not.
You know that we Frogs - I am after all Rana Pipiens - like to Prey in the Sun often on a Lily Pad. In this kind of gloomy weather though we kind of feel like that Gollum in J.R.R. Tolkien's Ring books. It's after the magic golden band that wreaks havoc in the hands of Evil and is muttered 'My Precious' by that fallen Hobbit. A sane Hobbit called Frodo must save the world by casting the Ring into the Fires of Doom.
That story passed through my mind as I gazed upon this wonderful Hoverfly: Golden Bands on its eyes. And Eristalinus, in fact, is a diminutive for an Ancient Precious Stone whose exact sort is unknown.
Eristalinus taeniops is a Drone Fly; that is to say that it mimics bees. Hoverflies cannot defend themselves by stinging, but predators can be scared off by their looks and Bee-like Buzzing. In my experience, they hover less than most other Hoverflies but rather erratically fly from flower to flower a bit like Bees.
My Precious. Eristalinus taeniops, Band-eyed Drone Fly, Garden, Funchal, Madeira
The weather hasn't been very good here: rather dark and almost raining but just not.
You know that we Frogs - I am after all Rana Pipiens - like to Prey in the Sun often on a Lily Pad. In this kind of gloomy weather though we kind of feel like that Gollum in J.R.R. Tolkien's Ring books. It's after the magic golden band that wreaks havoc in the hands of Evil and is muttered 'My Precious' by that fallen Hobbit. A sane Hobbit called Frodo must save the world by casting the Ring into the Fires of Doom.
That story passed through my mind as I gazed upon this wonderful Hoverfly: Golden Bands on its eyes. And Eristalinus, in fact, is a diminutive for an Ancient Precious Stone whose exact sort is unknown.
Eristalinus taeniops is a Drone Fly; that is to say that it mimics bees. Hoverflies cannot defend themselves by stinging, but predators can be scared off by their looks and Bee-like Buzzing. In my experience, they hover less than most other Hoverflies but rather erratically fly from flower to flower a bit like Bees.