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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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Hoverfly on the Ageratum flowers at Arley Hall. We'd hoped to see some butterflies on the beautiful herbaceous borders there - but only saw white ones.
The hoverflies are very lazy today, letting me get up close without even moving away with any determination
Close up on the head showing the compound eyes and unique mouth piece. 3.5x magnification
8mm in size
Syrphus torvus
Syrphus torvus is a medium-sized hoverfly that somewhat resembles a wasp, with adults measuring 10 to 13 mm (0.4 to 0.5 in). The head is broad and the large brown compound eyes have hairy surfaces, more obvious in males than females. The eyes are nearly touching in males but are more widely separated in females. The face and short antennae are yellow. The thorax is black, the legs yellow and black, and the single pair of wings is translucent with dark veining. The abdomen is oblong and slightly flattened. It is fringed with short yellow hairs and striped in yellow and black, the first yellow stripe being divided by a central black bar.
This hoverfly is probably a female Syrphus ribesii - the species doesn't have a common name. 8 June 2023. Ealing, London, England, UK.
Nectaring on flowers of lesser spearwort, Ranunculus flammula.
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Hoverfly Eumerus funeralis on my finger. Focus stacked using zerene. The hover got fed up with me disturbing it and hopped on to my finger to warm up.
Leucozona lucorum - a cute little hoverfly. Gets the name 'Leucozona' from the white band in the middle.