Tephritid Flies

My first Tephritid flies of the year: two male Tephritis neesii (Diptera: Tephritidae) competing for dominance of an ox-eye daisy plant (Leucanthemum vulgare).  The females lay their eggs in the developing ox-eye daisy flower heads.  Presumably the males that dominate the best flower heads get to mate with the best females.

It seems that the cold spring has not prevented a repeat of the T. neesii plague that occurred last year.  I saw hundreds of these flies on my walk round the lakes on Monday; there must have been around 3 or 4 on every ox-eye daisy plant that I looked at.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2013-05-06.

Muscid Fly

A glossy black female Muscid fly, probably Hydrotaea diabolus (Diptera: Muscidae).

Photos taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2013-05-05.

Mining Bee

A mining bee, probably a female Andrena haemorrhoa (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae).  Distinguished from  other mining bees with reddish-brown hairs on the thorax and bald black abdomens (Andrena bicolor, Andrena nitida and Andrena thoracica) by the yellow tip to the abdomen.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK on 2013-05-04.

Dolichopodid Fly

A Dolichopodid fly with large antennae: probably a male Rhaphium sp (Diptera: Dolichopodidae).

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2013-04-28.

Hoverflies

A pair of bumble-bee mimic hoverflies mating:  probably Criorhina ranunculi (Diptera: Syrphidae), the white-tailed variant.  This species lacks the feathery antennae of Volucella bombylans and the eyes of the male are not as close together as they are in Merodon equestris.  These bumble-bee mimic hoverfly species often have two or more colour variants.

Photos taken in the Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2013-04-28.