Bibionid Flies
A pair of Dilophus febrilis (Diptera: Bibionidae) mating on a thistle. Male Bibionidae have much larger eyes than the females.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-08-07.
A pair of Dilophus febrilis (Diptera: Bibionidae) mating on a thistle. Male Bibionidae have much larger eyes than the females.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-08-07.
A white-letter hairstreak butterfly, Satyrium w-album (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). So-called because of the white W-shaped line near the orange patch on the wing.
Photo taken in the field below Chazey Wood, near Caversham, UK, on 2012-08-05.
A small black Tachinid fly with a round abdomen: probably a female Cistogaster globosa (Diptera: Tachinidae). Similar in colour and length to Phania funesta but noticably fatter. The males of C. globosa are yellow and black.
Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-08-04.
What I initially thought was a hoverfly but which is actually a male soldier fly of species Oplodontha viridula (Diptera: Stratiomyidae). In some specimens the sides of the abdomen are bright green. Note also the spots on the eyes.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-08-04.
A female Eristalis horticola (Diptera: Syrphidae). I suspect that the bright yellow patches on the side of the abdomen mimic the pollen stores on the legs of bees.
Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading, UK, on 2012-08-02.