Help with a hoverfly please

[RobSutton]

This was found in quite dense woodland basking on sunlit dog's mercury leaves. It seemed to have a number of distinct features - yellow scutellum, yellow hairs on side to thorax, frons with white, black and orange sections. Keying it out I came to tribe Syrphini but then come unstuck deciding whether it has bands or spots on tergites 3 & 4 and what colour the hairs are and couldn't take it much further.

Sorry about the quality of the photos, but if anyone could help get this at least to Genus then I would be grateful.







PS my best "guess" was Syrphus ribesii?

[diggleken]

Hi Rob,
I think youre right, male, but there are better than me with these................
Cheers
Ken

[Anomalous]

Hi

Definitely a male Syrphus.

You cannot get to a species without a close view of the eyes (hairy or not?) and a close view of the amount of black on the hind femora.

Ian

[Geoff F]

Male Syrphus are virtually impossible to identify any further from a photograph. Just label it as Syrphus sp.