Muscid Fly

A male fly, a Helina sp. (Diptera: Muscidae), identified by Stephane Lebrun. [I originally had this as Phaonia angelicae.]

Photo taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-20.

Hoverfly

A bumble bee mimic hoverfly: Eristalis intricaria = E. intricarius (Diptera: Syrphidae).  At first I took this to be a Volucella bombylans, but the dark patches on the wings seemed too small.  I only realized its true identity when I came across a photo of E. intricaria while looking for something else on on Alain Ramel's Les Insectes site.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-19.

Burdock Gall Flies

This year I have been keeping a watch out for great burdock in the hope of seeing the burdock gall flies that I saw last year.  However, there was no sign of it in the places where it grew last summer and I was beginning to give up hope.  Then, a few days ago I noticed a burdock plant on the dam at the lower end of the middle lake.  It was infested with black aphids so I got down and had a closer look and then I noticed that there were also little yellow flies on it.  On getting my photos back home I found that these flies were probably Tephritis bardanae (Diptera: Tephritidae) which are similar but not identical to the Terellia tussilaginis that I saw last year (see here and here).

I have noticed before that Tephritidae sometimes flap one wing at a time, as if they are signalling by semaphore:

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-19.

Hoverfly with Spotty Eyes

When I first saw this I thought it was one of those small black bees, then I saw the looped vein on its wing and realized it was a hoverfly.  Only then did I look more closely and noticed the spots on its eyes.  It is a female of either Eristalinus sepulchralis or Eristalinus aeneus (Diptera: Syrphidae).  For more on these species see here.

Photos taken in Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-17.

Another Picture-Winged Fly

A picture-winged fly similar but not identical to the one I saw a few days earlier.  This one is probably Urophora jaceana (Diptera: Tephritidae), based on information from here.  The plant that it was on appears to be knapweed (Centaurea nigra), the plant that U. jaceana lays its eggs on.

Photos taken in The Wilderness, Whiteknights Park, Reading University grounds, Reading, UK, on 2010-06-15.