View allAll Photos Tagged hoverfly
Eristalis pertinax - Tapered Drone fly.
I found this very helpful for identifying hoverflies, British ones in particular.
www.bnhs.co.uk/focuson/hoverflies/html
Thank you for your friendship and comments etc. Due to chronic poor health I'm unable to take on new contacts but do my best to reply to comments. More of my shots can be seen on
Myathropa florea on Ageratum Blue Horizon
These flowers are very popular with insects and also great for cutting. I grow scores from seed.every year.
Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus in the "studio". Focus stacked using zerene. Same hoverfly as previous on finger shots. I eventually released the hover into my greenhouse which does at least have frost heating
Paragus yerburiensis, Family: Syrphidae
5mm hoverfly perched on dry twig, shot with diffused internal flash
Flies that visit or hover on flowers are not all referable to flower flies or hover flies, but those that do it usually by hovering for some time with a shrill hum are regarded flower flies or hover flies or Syrphidae. The family includes small to rather large (3-18 mm), bristle less, brightly coloured flies, may be striped, banded or spotted yellow on a blue, black or metallic ground colour. Head variable, usually as broad as or a little broader than the thorax, thorax rather large and robust, moderately arched, rarely with bristles, abdomen variable in shape, composed of five or six visible segments, rarely four, wings comparatively large.
Syrphidae draw attention mainly because of their ecological services. These tiny flies, take a crucial role in pollination and serves as an important pollinator of many flowers. Syrphid flies are frequent flower visitors to a wide range of wild plants as well as agricultural crops and are often considered the second most important group of pollinators after wild bees. The Syrphidae are also acts as biological control agents. Larvae of many Syrphidae prey upon pest insects which includes such leafhoppers, aphids and coccids. So, they are seen to control the pest level in such agricultural fields.
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The Syrphinae constitute one of the three subfamilies of the fly family Syrphidae. Most larvae of this subfamily feed on aphids. Each larva can consume up to 400 aphids during development. When syrphid larvae are abundant, they may reduce aphid populations by 70 to 100%.
The tribe Paragini, with the single genus Paragus, is a compact and distinctive group occurring in all continents other than South America and Antarctica. More than 142 species and subspecies of Paragus have been described. Paragus species are small, slender to moderately robust, with thorax black or with apex of scutellum pale, and abdomen usually extensively red-orange to entirely black.
Paragus yerburiensis is aphidophagous (aphid-feeding) syrphid that predates Aphis craccivora
More examples of the range of hoverflies that are working in our gardens and countryside.
Have no idea of their ID so helpful suggestions would be welcomed/