Flies pretending to be something else.

[DickyOZ]

Sawfly - looks like a wasp.


Spotted Wings Ligyra Bee-fly

[casper]

nice shots, Dicky. Only latin names could impress me more.

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[Wavelength]

Beautiful.....both.... I would clone out everything from the right top corner in the first image; i really love the various greens and yellows of the leaves

[bnnrcn]

Interesting flies, thanks for sharing

[DanK]

Hi Richard,

Nice shots.

I learned something from this set. The first one got me thinking, as it looks nothing like a fly -- the antennae and eyes are both hymenoptera-like. Also, it's hard to tell, but it looks like it might have four wings. However, I knew nothing about sawfiles, so I looked them up in Wikipedia. Here's what I found there:

Sawflies are a group of largely phytophagous (herbivorous) insects. The overall group is paraphyletic, but the name is still in common use, and treated as a suborder, though it likely will be phased out in future classifications. These superfamilies are regarded as the most primitive taxa within the Hymenoptera (some going back 200 million years), and one of the taxa within the Symphyta gave rise to the suborder Apocrita (wasps, bees, and ants - this group is considered monophyletic).

If they are actually predecessors of hymenoptera, the appearance of the eyes and antennae make sense.

In contrast, hoverflies also appear to mimic wasps and bees, but their eye shape, flat antennae, and two wings show them to be flies:



Dan

[IzzieK]

I know nothing of bugs and insects so I rely on the bug-o-graphers in CiC for the IDs. But these are good shots, Richard...though the first one is almost lost in translation there with the same colour as the Sawfly. I like the second one better for the separation.

[DickyOZ]

Beautiful.....both.... I would clone out everything from the right top corner in the first image; i really love the various greens and yellows of the leaves

Needs a little more delicate work but..

[DickyOZ]

Hi Richard,

Nice shots.

I learned something from this set. The first one got me thinking, as it looks nothing like a fly -- the antennae and eyes are both hymenoptera-like. Also, it's hard to tell, but it looks like it might have four wings. However, I knew nothing about sawfiles, so I looked them up in Wikipedia. Here's what I found there:



If they are actually predecessors of hymenoptera, the appearance of the eyes and antennae make sense.

In contrast, hoverflies also appear to mimic wasps and bees, but their eye shape, flat antennae, and two wings show them to be flies:


Dan

Good capture Don and interesting info. Sawflies do get quite big; I don't know if they can sting but I'm not game to find out. This one is enjoying a feed on the Cardinal vine.


A normal bee for comparison:

[Wavelength]

Doubtless, the first improved 100%
..and your new inclusions are simply awesome

[IzzieK]

I like the first one of the second batch, too...Excellent shot...