View allAll Photos Tagged hoverfly
Today's back garden safari... hoverflies! Very tricky to photograph - they're tiny, they don't stay still for long, don't come close and it's hard to get a focus on them. Going to stick with birds from now on ...
Some color for a change. Maybe too much color? ...naaaaah.
It's a hoverfly, flower fly and syrphid fly at the same time. Depends who you ask, but it's an insect from the family of syrphidae. More closer I don't know but please tell me if You do!
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Blog:
Hoverfly, family Syrphidae on the Queen Anne's Lace floral host. Initially, I considered this as a pollinating wasp. However, after online independent evaluation (iNaturalist.com) it was deemed order Diptera (flys). Further research suggests this is one of the hoverflies. They indeed do mimic wasps and bees.
Hoverfly Helophilus pendulus on the edge of a bird bath. Natural light. Focus stacked using zerene. Oshiro 60mm
Close crop of the eyes of a hoverfly showing the compound and simple eyes (ocelli).
Also take a look at this shot
The marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) is a relatively small hoverfly (9–12 mm) of the Syrphidae family, widespread throughout all continents.
Like most hoverflies, it mimics a much more dangerous insect, the solitary wasp, though it is a quite harmless species. The upper side of the abdomen is patterned with orange and black bands. Two further identification characters are the presence of secondary black bands on the third and fourth dorsal plates and faint greyish longitudinal stripes on the thorax.
The marmalade hoverfly can be found throughout the year in various habitats, including urban gardens, visiting flowers for pollen and nectar. They often form dense migratory swarms, which may cause panic among people for their resemblance to wasps. It is among the very few species of flies capable of crushing pollen grains and feeding on them. The larva is terrestrial and feeds on aphids.
As in most other hoverflies, males can be easily identified by their holoptic eyes, i.e., left and right compound eyes touching at the top of their heads.
De pyjamazweefvlieg of dubbelbandzweefvlieg of (in Vlaanderen) snorzweefvlieg of cocacolazweefvlieg (Episyrphus balteatus) is een insect uit de familie zweefvliegen (Syrphidae).
De wat opmerkelijke Nederlandse naam, pyjamazweefvlieg, dankt deze vlieg aan de tekening; een gele basiskleur met een wat complexe, maar regelmatige zwarte strepentekening dwars op het achterlijf. Deze bestaat uit drie zwarte banden met daaronder een vaak onderbroken, dunnere en ietwat V-vormige streep. De bovenste band is meestal versmolten met de driehoekige streep erboven. Het borststuk is zwartbruin en glanzend, en heeft een lichtere, meestal gele 'uitstulping' aan de achterzijde.
De ogen zijn rood van kleur en de lengte is 7 tot 12 millimeter.
De pyjamazweefvlieg leeft van nectar en stuifmeel van bloemen en er worden meerdere plantensoorten bezocht. Deze soort komt in grote delen van Europa voor, maar ook in Noord-Afrika, Noord-Amerika en in Azië. In Nederland en België is de pyjamazweefvlieg algemeen, en komt overal voor waar veel bloemen en bladluizen zijn. Deze soort is erg populair in de tuinbouw, omdat de larven vraatzuchtige belagers van bladluizen zijn.
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All rights reserved. Copyright © Martien Uiterweerd (Foto Martien). All my images are protected under international authors copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without my written explicit permission.
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Finger licking good ! Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus. feeding on crocus pollen by touching the anthers with it's front legs and then licking the pollen off it's feet