Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 27-08-2006 12:05
#1
Gorgeous creature of 17mm in size, and it buzzes just like a wasp.
On flowers of
Solidago canadensis.
A quick search in our Gallery and Wolfgang Rutkies site gave me nothing like that...
Posted by Gerard Pennards on 27-08-2006 12:45
#3
Hello Black,
Great find and great pictures!:D
This is a female of the syrphid
Spilomyia diophthalma!
This genus hasb a few species in Europe, but one doesn't find them very often.
Greetings,
Posted by Dmitry Gavryushin on 27-08-2006 19:51
#4
Thanks a lot for your ID and compliment Gerard.
So I was right when I felt it's something worth collecting :).
By the way, it was an incredible day for collecting
Syrphidae yesterday, maybe a bit too windy but warm and sunny, and all of them buzzing over flowers.
There were more interesting wasp-like hoverflies, but I missed them somehow focusing mostly on
Tachinidae (and chasing shy Red Admirals,
Vanessa atalanta).