Post by @markmccaughrean@mastodon.social

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social 4 hr. ago

The ivy was buzzing with many insect species in the sunshine this lunchtime, far too many to photograph (& ID!) them all.

But here are a few.

First, a female yellow-haired sun fly (Myathropa florea; 🇩🇪 Totenkopfschwebfliege), aka the Batman hover fly for hopefully obvious reasons.

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

A large hoverfly seen from behind sunning itself of green ivy. The fly has dark black brown compound eyes. The thorax is white with distinctive black markings, the lower of which resembles Batman's bat signal. There are many bright yellow hairs around the thorax extending to the top of the abdomen, which is strongly patterned in orange and black.

#backgardenentomology #insectsofmastodon #bugoftheday #heidelberg #macrophotography #photography

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Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social 3 hr. ago

This one is very likely genus Phaonia & my best guess would be P subventa, but getting a definitive ID of muscid flies from photos alone can often be challenging.

Let's see what the iNat experts think.

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

A fly seen from above in sunshine on a yellowing ivy leaf. The fly has large red compound eyes, with a black and grey region between. The thorax is a mix of black and grey, with longitudinal stripes, and many bristles. The scutellum is orange and pale with black bristles, while the abdomen seen through the wings is orange.

Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social 3 hr. ago

Now two female genus Calliphora blowflies.

From the orange basicosta at the base of the wings, I'm fairly sure the first is C vicinia, the blue blowfly. The other doesn't show that, but has hints of orange hairs behind the eyes, so I suspect C vomitoria, the orange-bearded bluebottle.

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

2 media files

A large fly seen side on and from above in sunshine on a green ivy leaf. The red compound eyes are widely separated with black, marking this as a female. The thorax is shiny black and bristled, with small patches of grey and hints of longitudinal stripes. The abdomen is shiny blue, seen through clear grey wings. There are small orange patches at the base of the wings. The legs are black.

Another large fly seen from behind on the ivy. The eyes are again red and widely separated by black, but there is a suggestion that the out of focus antennae are lighter than in the previous fly. There are also hints of orange hairs behind the eyes. The thorax is more plainly dark grey and shiny, without any signs of stripes. The abdomen is a darker grey blue, with many black bristles near the end. There are no obvious signs of orange at the wing roots, although quite whether this angle would show them is a question.

Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social 3 hr. ago

And the last of the flies for now (although there were many other species, large & small), this one is a female common tachnid (Tachina fera).

The 🇩🇪 name is Igelfliege, which makes sense when you know that Igel (pronounced "eagle") is not the German word for that, but for hedgehog 🦔

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

A large fly seen from in front and the side, sunning itself on green ivy. The fly has medium-sized brick red compound red eyes, widely separated by brown and red, with orange antennae. The thorax is black and bristly on top, with orange on the sides. The abdomen is mostly orange with fine black hairs, and with a black stripe running down the middle. There are many large black bristles towards the rear. The legs are dark brown and the wings are clear orange.

Mark McCaughrean

@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social 3 hr. ago

And now for something completely different – two separate individuals of the distinctive Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma; 🇩🇪 Gammeule) feeding.

One of them found its way into the house last night & really didn't want to be caught & banished back into the dark, cold night. Sorry 😬

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#BugOfTheDay 🐞
#MacroPhotography 🔬
#InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
#BackGardenEntomology 🪲

3 media files