3 hoverflies, fly, leafhopper, mirid,and ant please

[catbee]

These are photos taken on my allotment.
1. I got as far as syrphus. Was wondering vitripennis or ribesi.

2. Is this Sphaerophoria scripta please?

3. Is this Syritta pipieris please?

4. I saw this tiny fly. It doesn't resemle anything in my insect book.

5. There were lots of these leafhoppers on m purple sage.


6. I think this is Stenotus binotatus. Again on the sage. Am I correct?

7. Another creature after this sage was this ant. Is this a wood ant or am I totally off course?

Many thanks everyone.

[Gerel]

Hi,

that ant aint an ant (look at that rostrum) it's a bug nymph, I think it's
Himacerus mirmicoides the Ant Damsel bug.

[catbee]

Aah thanks Gerel. That would explain why none of the photos of British ants I found just did not look right. That rostrum should have given me a clue. This is not the first time I have been caught out by a nymph. Many thanks.

[Geoff F]

The Syrphus female does seem like S. vitripennis, or S. torvus which is difficult to separate. And male Syrphus are best labeled as Syrphus sp. when dealing with photos.

Much the same applies to Sphaerophoria females. Only S. scripta males can be identified from photos; and even then a bit of guesswork is usually needed.

The Syritta pipiens seems correct, as far as I can see.

As for the rest, I would prefer to wait a little longer to see if an expert appears before 'sticking my neck out'.

[catbee]

Many thanks Geoff. Glad to know I was on the right lines

[JRsbugs]

#4 is Asteiidae, Asteia amoena female
#5 Eupteryx melissae
#6 Lygus cf. pratensis due to the long membrane, could be Lygus rugulipennis though.

[tristanba]

#6 I couldn't say more than Lygus sp

[catbee]

Many thanks everyone. Am impressed, as always, by the knowledge available through this site.