This fabulous hover fly, Criorhina berberina, was in the garden a few days ago. There are two forms of this fly, one is dark and the other (shown in the photo) is entirely buff (var. oxyacanthae). The buff form is a really convincing mimic of the Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum).
2 comments:
Not a species you come across very often and definitely not one I've seen in our garden. I've not made a concerted effort to record hoverflies in the garden, though MapMate tells me that 30 species have been logged including the related Criorhina ranunculi. You're sighting has inspired me to see what other species of hoverfly might be lurking undetected in our urban garden.
Lovely photo btw.
Credit has to go to Mark who spotted and identified it.
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