Bee-fly (headshot)

[deetheturk]

This is a head shot of a Bee-Fly,they look very similar to a worker Bee! C&C welcome.

Cheers David

[Geoff F]

My only criticism David is that isn't what we call a Bee Fly here in the UK. It looks like one of the Hoverflies. Some of the Eristalis family are bee mimics and are sometimes called Drone Flies.

I would need to see the wing veins and hind leg to go any further with identification but I suppose Eristalis tenax is possible. Certainly plenty of fine detail there.

ps. This is a true Bee Fly (Bombylius major).

[Saorsa]

I agree, this is the bee fly in Florida


There are a number of bee mimics though.

[deetheturk]

Hi Geoff,you might well be correct,I am no expert and was only going on info from a mate in the U.K. I posted another image asking what it was and someone else said it was a Hover,not this image though,but it was later identified as a bee-fly,hence my title.

[deetheturk]

Thank you Saorsa,there are quite a few variations all over the world,here's another from Turkey! This guy was in my back garden,i had another shot of the first post with, excuse my ignorance (pointy bit) sticking out, but the head was not in focus and i deleted it after looking at that i decided it was a Bee-fly! Geoff this is an image of the only Hovers i have seen in my area of Turkey.

Cheers David

[Stagecoach]

Hi David,

Whatever it is it's a sure good image.

Grahame

[deetheturk]

Cheers Grahame,its sod's law that i deleted the other image of this as although for me it was not in focus enough,the pointy thingy was in focus,and was fully extended, not like this one! But as we know,this is Macro

David

[Shadowman]

Very nice, I like the later shots as well.

[deetheturk]

Cheers John,thanks for commenting

[Geoff F]

Are you deliberately looking for species which are difficult to identify, David!

That second hoverfly is a Eupeodes species. But which one?

The most likely options are E. corollae (the abdomen spots reach the sides). E. latifasciatus (abdomen spots don't reach the sides, except with some females where they narrowly reach the sides). E. luniger (abdomen spots never reach the sides and there is a short Y shaped mark in front of the frons, black area between the eyes).

And then there are the rare versions!

However, going by the leg colours and I think the scutellum hairs are are pale, plus some slight pale dusting at the sides of the frons ; I would suspect Eupeodes corollae is the most likely.

[deetheturk]

Cheers Geoff, what would I do without your great bug knowledge? I will need to dig out some more to keep you on your toes!