Ladybird Beetles

A pair of 24-spot ladybirds, Subcoccinella vigintiquatuorpunctata = Subcoccinella 24-punctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae).  Unlike most other ladybird beetles, which prey upon aphids, these are vegetarian.  At 3-4mm long these are distinctively smaller than the commoner Coccinella septempunctata and Harmonia axyridis (6-8mm long).

This is another one that I had seen ten minutes earlier:

Photos taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-05-13.

Agromyzid Fly

A tiny black and yellow fly, probably a Liriomyza sp (Diptera: Agromyzidae).  Similar in size and colour to the black and yellow Chloropidae.  The larvae of Agromyzidae are leaf miners.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-05-02.

Hoverfly

A male Brachyopa sp, probably either Brachyopa scutellaris or Brachyopa pilosa (Diptera: Syrphidae).

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2012-05-11.

Muscid Flies

A female Eudasyphora cyanella (Diptera: Muscidae).  I have just noticed that the females in this species tend to have blue abdomens.  The following photo, taken a month later, shows this more clearly:

In males the abdomen tends to have the same bronzy-green colour as the thorax.

Photos taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-04-13 and 2012-05-13, respectively.

Big-Nosed Hoverfly

A female Rhingia campestris (Diptera: Syrphidae).  Rhingia rostrata is similar but with no black markings along the side of the abdomen.

Photo taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-05-13.