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Post by rowanberry on Sept 25, 2018 12:51:06 GMT
I saw this today on the black-eyed Susans... I thought at first it was a bee, until I realised it wasn't collecting pollen, rather it kept landing on the petals or leaves.
It mainly seemed to be intent on seeing off the few bees that were around and about on the flowers- it would see them off, and then come back and wait until another arrived.
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Post by duncan74 on Sept 25, 2018 17:45:40 GMT
Hi RB, what you have there is a Honey bee mimic, a Hoverfly - Eristalis pertinax, its a male, the females have a gap between their eyes where the males eyes are touching when veiwed from above, Eristalis species have a dip in the vein in their wing that helps you to ID the genus, check out your photos . you can spot it in one of them Duncan  th by Duncan Mclean, on Flickr |
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Post by rowanberry on Sept 27, 2018 21:02:37 GMT
Thanks, Duncan!
I couldn't see the dip in the veins in the photos I'd posted, so I went back and had a look in some of the others I took of it... it's very clear on the left wing in this photo, so I can see what you're talking about. 
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Post by aeshna5 on Sept 28, 2018 4:05:03 GMT
To me this is Eristalis tenax rather than E. pertinax. The latter should have a yellow front tibia + tarsus but appear dark in your photos. Also I find it is a slimmer, more attenuated species. I can also just make out the enlarged hind tibia characteristic of E. tenax.
Both are hoverflies collectively known as drone flies with rat-tailed maggot larvae. Often seen good numbers of them on Ivy at this time of year.
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