The Hoverfly Thread (11 Viewers)

[JCLynn]

Any ideas on this one ,please guys.
Drone fly size and the smallish eyes have thrown me.

 

[Brian Stone]

Not a hover, a tachinid fly I think. Don't know the species, sorry.

 

[JCLynn]

Cheers Brian. Much appreciated. Didn't look quite right for a hoverfly species.

 

[Andrew]

You could try posting that on Dipterists Forum. They are very helpful there.

 

[Jan-Paul Charteris]

Just wondering if anyone with better hoverfly knowledge could help with these? :t:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=206369

Jan

 

[Qingcol]

These Eristalinus aeneus? are fairly numerous around Golden Samphire at Rumps Point, Cornwall, very near the sea edge and well within the heavy salt spray zone.

 

[Lmc3598]

Hey hoverfly experts, I was wondering if you knew of any GIANT species in the UK? 3 years ago in the Highlands I cam across this huge fly, about 5 or six centimetres long, and very hairy, and when it flew it sort of hovered a bit. It was brown and yellow. The flight looked hovery, but the head of the fly looked more like something else, like a robberfly

This has been bugging me for three years can some one help?

Thanks

 

[Leif G]

Unidentified Sphaerophoria (?)

This female was photographed near the coast in South west Norway, July 14th.
I would say it belongs to the genus Sphaerophoria. Small.
I've been looking through both volumes of Nationalnyckeln (the Swedish two volume guide to the Nordic hoverflies). But no luck. I'm not able to find any hoverfly having this pattern on the abdomen.
Hopefully someone here have some suggestions.
If I get it solved through other channels I'll post it here.
Thanks!

 

[michael23]

I have seen on 3 different occasions, 2 today and 1 the other day, a wasp actually killing and eating a hoverfly. These are the first instances I have ever seen of this. Is it common?

 

[Jan-Paul Charteris]

Can this hoverfly be identified from the photos?

I photographed this in my garden earlier today. All 5 photos relate to the same individual. Is it possible to identify it to species from these photos?

Should add, this was in Portslade in Sussex

 

[aeshna5]

I photographed this in my garden earlier today. All 5 photos relate to the same individual. Is it possible to identify it to species from these photos?

Should add, this was in Portslade in Sussex

Sphaerophoria sp.

 

[Jan-Paul Charteris]

Cheers aeshna :t:

 

[Jan-Paul Charteris]

Scaeva pyrastri?

Is this large hoverfly, taken in Sussex earlier Scaeva pyrastri?

 

[Matt Prince]

Yes it is indeed Scaeva Pyrastri - nice distinctive hover that one.

 

[Jan-Paul Charteris]

Cheers Matt :t:

 

[Bonsaibirder]

I live on the coast in County Durham and today there was a huge increase in the numbers of hoverflies.

I have no knowledge at all about hoverflies and so I wanted to ask - are these migrants or a mass hatching, or some other phenomenon? Although I know nothing about them, I do love seeing hoverflies and so I take notice when I see them. I have never seen so many as I did today, not even close!

I tried to photograph some and one species seems to predominate. However there might be up to three different species?

 

[Bonsaibirder]

... and a few more photos

It seems to me that the dark one (3rd picture on the first post) and the last picture on this posting might be different from the rest?

 

[Matt Prince]

They all look like episyrphus balteatus (marmalade fly) to me even the 3rd one from your first post, though I've never seen one that dark before. The extent of the markings and depth of colour vary a lot, but maybe one of the more experienced hands could confirm my hunch that #3 is an extreme e. balteatus - if so that's a cracker of an individual in its own right.

 

[Matt Prince]

Here's one from a moth trapping event at Offwell wood. Picture taken after a night in the cold cell (aka the fridge).
Keyed out as female xylota segnis.
I thought the cold of the fridge had done for it - but, despite appearances it flew off three minutes later !

 

[Bonsaibirder]

Thanks Matt :t:

Any idea why the large influx?