Still, all in all though it was a successful 30mins as I managed to sweep another hoverfly tick from umbelifers. I knew immediately that it was one of the Parhelophilus
spp. - smaller and darker overall than Helophilus, almost browny-orange rather
than yellow looking. It was potted and retained to check which one and what
features to confirm. When checking the book, it was clear I'd need to look at
a feature on the hind femora, and there was no way that was going to happen
whilst it was flapping about in the pot and the feature would not show on a
typical photo either. Sorry fly, again! Before dispatching it though, I was
able to check and confirm it was male - otherwise it would have been pointless
as the key feature to separate the two main contenders is a male-only feature.
The eye-spacing on these spp. is not the same as most hoverflies so despite
the eyes being spaced apart, this is a male (per the large genital capsule on
the undercarriage).
This hairy tubercle on the underside and near the base of the hind femora is
key, confirming Parhelophilus frutetorum
(vs P. versicolor which does
not show it).
I managed to photograph a couple of other hoverflies on umbelifers too before
the shower.
Cheilosia illustrata - several of these seen.
They're hairy, black and white like bumbling Pandas on the flower heads.
Riponnensia splendens - now I know what I'm looking at, they seem to be
fairly common
Other bits seen included ....
Early-instar Cinnabar larvae
Loads of Leptopterna dolabrata
Not only have I used the new editor, I've managed (so far) to produce this
post using the new Microsoft Edge browser which installed itself on my PC with
the last update. I stopped using Internet Explorer for blogging a few years
ago as there seemed to be compatibility issues. Firefox has been fine, and
I'll probably still use it unless I start to notice any advantages whilst
using Edge for other applications.
