JAGOOF ~ ID ~ Is it an ant sized black, silver and red hover fly?

[JBW]

Just A Gnat Out Of Focus. According to those in the know this is a variety of Saw Fly. I have leaned something new about our garden... how good is that

[Shadowman]

An unusual one though, you were able to get pretty close. Was this too close for your camera's focusing system?

[DanK]

It's not a hoverfly. Check the long antennas and eye shape. Flies generally have flat antennae. It's probably some species of native bee


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[JBW]

An unusual one though, you were able to get pretty close. Was this too close for your camera's focusing system?

It was very close to too close. But I was thinking a slight breeze or movement on it's part.

[JBW]

It's not a hoverfly. Check the long antennas and eye shape. Flies generally have flat antennae. It's probably some species of native bee


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks for the suggestion I'll look amd see what I can find.

[DanK]

Now that I look again, I wonder if it is a wasp, or a parasitic bee. No hairs on the legs to collect pollen.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Geoff F]

My guess would be some form of Sawfly species. But a rather extensive and complex group.

[DanK]

Geoff--Thanks for chiming in. With my weaker knowledge of bugs, I hadn't thought of that, but it certainly fits.

Brian, so this will make sense to you: hoverflies are real flies, in the order diptera ("two wings") so they share the features I mentioned. Sawflies are not in the order diptera. They are in the order hymenoptera, which is the order that also includes bees, wasps, and ants. So they share the cylindrical antennae, etc., of bees. Hence my guess. I don't think I have ever photographed a sawfly, but I have read that you can distinguish the adults from wasps by the waist--most sawflies don't have the very constricted waist that most wasps have.

[JBW]

Geoff--Thanks for chiming in. With my weaker knowledge of bugs, I hadn't thought of that, but it certainly fits.

Brian, so this will make sense to you: hoverflies are real flies, in the order diptera ("two wings") so they share the features I mentioned. Sawflies are not in the order diptera. They are in the order hymenoptera, which is the order that also includes bees, wasps, and ants. So they share the cylindrical antennae, etc., of bees. Hence my guess. I don't think I have ever photographed a sawfly, but I have read that you can distinguish the adults from wasps by the waist--most sawflies don't have the very constricted waist that most wasps have.

And it would explain the platypus like mix of parts.

[JBW]

My guess would be some form of Sawfly species. But a rather extensive and complex group.

Sawfly? okay n ow i have something more to learn about.