Friday
Jun192009

Yellow and Black Ichneumon Wasp

Probably Amblyteles amatorius. Surely the usual warnings about the near impossibility of identifying ichnemon wasps do not apply to this rather striking species?

Photo taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-19.

Sunday
Jun142009

Hoverfly

A male Leucozona laternaria feeding on hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium).  As explained here (half way down the page), male hoverflies have larger eyes than the females, and so their eyes are not separated in the way that female's eyes are.

Photos taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-14.

Saturday
Jun132009

Chironomid Fly

I noticed this small fly on our kitchen window yesterday morning.  The feathery antennae are characteristic of the dipteran family Chironomidae (non-biting midges).  I am not going to even attempt to narrow down the classification any further.

Friday
Jun122009

Red Fly with a Yellow Face

A Conopid fly, probably Sicus ferrugineus.  These flies lay their eggs on bumble bees.  Myopa buccata looks similar but has a much longer face (see here, here and here for details).

Photos taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-11.

Friday
Jun122009

Big-Eyed Hoverfly

At first I thought this was Leucozona lucorum on the basis of its brown scutellum.  However closer scrutiny revealed that the front two long veins on the wings meet before they reach the wing-edge, which is characteristic of Volucella pellucens (Complete British Insects, M. Chinery, Collins, 2005, page 312).  My guess is that vein pattern is less subject to intraspecific variability than scutellum colour, so I will go with the identification as Volucella pellucens.

Photos taken in Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2009-06-11.