Hoverfly ID anyone?

jezlee · #1 (**permalink**) 02-05-2011, 03:20 PM

Hello all - here's one for our hoverfly experts - anybody like to have a stab at which species it is? Sorry about the poor quality of the photograph - not one of my better efforts, I'm afraid!

Jason Green · #2 (**permalink**) 02-05-2011, 04:10 PM

Afternoon Jez,

It's one of the Dasysyrphus species. D. venustus is a common one, but further views/a specimen would be needed to identify this I suspect.

Take care,

Jason

jezlee · #3 (**permalink**) 02-05-2011, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Afternoon Jez,

It's one of the Dasysyrphus species. D. venustus is a common one, but further views/a specimen would be needed to identify this I suspect.

Take care,

Jason

Hi Jason

It was photographed on holly yesterday in the grounds of Attingham Park, just outside Shrewsbury in Shropshire. Does that help at all in narrowing it down?

Jason Green · #4 (**permalink**) 02-05-2011, 04:53 PM

A view of the face would be good - a vertical stripe or not.

Geoff F · #5 (**permalink**) 02-05-2011, 09:14 PM

This is definitely a tricky one. I suspect that she is so full of eggs that we are seeing a distorted abdomen which is making those yellow spots appear strange.

Looking at an enlarged view of the frons, I wouldn't rule out Euepodes luniger.

But as Jason said, we need some different angles to have any hope of an ID.

Jason Green · #6 (**permalink**) 02-05-2011, 09:22 PM

...the black costal-cell rules out a Eupeodes.

Geoff F · #7 (**permalink**) 03-05-2011, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Green

...the black costal-cell rules out a Eupeodes.

But we have had this problem before with poor quality photos where dark yellow can appear as black so I am always a bit wary of just using this as the main ID characteristic.

Those yellow spots seem a bit 'pinched' in the middle for D. venustus but not sufficiently 'waisted' for the alternative uncommon D. friuliensis.

So I think that from what is available this will have to remain another of those unexplained specimens.

Roger Morris · #8 (**permalink**) 03-05-2011, 10:01 PM

Jez

It is most likely to be D. venustus but a word of caution - there are several additional speciues as yet unpublished resulting from splits of this species. I have at least two of the seggregates in my collection and possibly more. So a bit of a problem and not helped w/o seeing the face.

Regards

Roger

jezlee · #9 (**permalink**) 04-05-2011, 07:38 AM

Thanks for your helpful comments, everyone, especially the last post from Roger - I hadn't realised the splits in the species that he mentioned. So, to sum up, most likely candidate would be D.venustus, but of course with all the usual disclaimers! Many thanks again to Jason, Geoff and Roger for all your help!