Hoverfly: Portevinia maculata

30 Wednesday Apr 2025

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British hoverflies, hoverfly on Wild garlic, Portevinia maculata, Ramsons hoverfly, Wild garlic

I have one of you to thank for the inspiration for this post; through his comments on my recent post about Wild garlic, Philip Strange (who, if you don’t already know and follow him, produces a really interesting science and nature blog) reminded me to look for the hoverfly associated with that plant. And so I did. And here it is.

For those of you who don’t live in Britain, we are currently experiencing a week of high (for us) temperatures (this is probably our summer, and normal conditions will resume shortly), so, yesterday, a walk through a shady woodland seemed like a good plan. When I arrived at Cwm George, in the nearby town of Dinas Powys, I was delighted to find it was peak garlic time and, when I stood watching those patches of flowering Wild garlic on which sunshine streamed through the tree canopy, I was even more delighted to spot several small grey-patterned hoverflies, both perched on and hovering around the plants.

These are Portevinia maculata hoverflies, and they have a very strong association with Wild garlic (aka Ramsons), as their larvae mine the bulbs and stem bases of those plants. My guide book says that ‘Where Ramsons is abundant, this hoverfly is usually also abundant’ but Philip and I might both dispute that statement. In my local park, where I took the photos for my recent blog and where Wild garlic is prolific, I’ve never seen this hoverfly. So, I was really pleased to find it in good numbers at Cwm George.

First hoverflies

04 Tuesday Feb 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, winter

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British hoverflies, Episyrphus balteatus, first hoverflies, hoverfly, Marmalade hoverfly, Meliscaeva auricollis, winter hoverflies

When the sun comes out, so do the insects, and, during last Friday’s walk along the coastal path, after failing to find the birds I was hoping for, I was very pleased to spot my first two hoverflies of the year basking on ivy leaves in the weak sunshine.

I wasn’t surprised that the first I saw was this Marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus), as it’s the most common hoverfly in Britain, and, though adults are known to hibernate, they will emerge on warmer winter days.

This second hoverfly is Meliscaeva auricollis, a species that’s one of the first to emerge in the spring and then has a very long flight period, though its numbers are greatest towards the end of summer.

X is for Xanthogramma pedissequum

29 Sunday Dec 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British hoverflies, hoverfly, Xanthogramma pedissequum

Hoverflies have barely flown in to my blog posts this year. There was a new-to-me species in August (Hoverfly: Melangyna umbellatarum, 3 August), and a hoverfly larva starred in a short video in October (Lucky, unlucky, 16 October) but that’s about the extent of their involvement. I have seen hoverflies, of course, though I often struggle to identify them. Luckily, the Xanthogramma pedissequum shown below is one of the easier species to name, and it fits perfectly in this countdown.

241229 x is for Xanthogramma pedissequum

68!

07 Thursday Nov 2024

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects

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British hoverflies, Epistrophe grossulariae, Epistrophe grossulariae larvae, fly larvae, hoverfly larvae, larvae on Sycamore leaves, leaf fossicking, Syrphus species, Syrphus species larvae

68! That’s the number of hoverfly larvae I found when turning over Sycamore leaves in a damp shady spot in one of my local parks last week. And they were all plump and well grown so had obviously been feasting well on aphids. (I have noticed during my leaf fossicking this year that, while insect numbers overall have been well down on previous years, the numbers of aphid seem about usual, which means that those creatures feeding on aphids seem also to have been thriving.)

241107 Epistrophe grossulariae

The hoverfly larvae were of only two types, the Epistrophe grossulariae shown above (these larvae are usually green but turn an orange-brown colour in the autumn, an effective camouflage tactic – hence the two colour variations shown here), and those from the various Syrphus species shown below (it’s not possible to be more specific as to the exact identification of these larvae).

241107 syrphus sp

Lucky, unlucky

16 Wednesday Oct 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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aphid, British hoverflies, hoverfly larva, ladybird, ladybird eating aphid, Syrphus sp larvae

The aphid-eating hoverfly larva (likely one of the Syrphus species) missed its chance here. As you’ll see, though, the ladybird was more on the ball and the aphid lost its second chance.

(I’ve set the video to mute as this park railing is next to a very busy road but I’m not sure that setting has worked, so best to mute your sound before viewing the video.)

Hoverfly: Melangyna umbellatarum

03 Saturday Aug 2024

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British hoverflies, egg-laying hoverfly, egg-laying Melangyna umbellatarum, hoverfly eggs, Melangyna umbellatarum

My guide book, Britain’s Hoverflies (Ball and Morris, Princeton, 2015) says the Melangyna ‘is a challenging genus with several species which are very difficult to identify’, and I thought ‘Just my luck! I might as well give up now’.

240803 Melangyna umbellatarum (1)

Fortunately, I didn’t, and, as this particular species has a shiny thorax and pale, almost white abdominal markings, it proved easier than expected to identify my first ever hoverfly from this genus. This little beauty has now been confirmed as Melangyna umbellatarum, a female that was egg-laying on Hogweed in Cardiff’s Heath Park last week.

240803 Melangyna umbellatarum (2)

You may just be able to spot one of her tiny white eggs above her head in the top photo, and I was able to get a close up (photo above). This was also the first time I’d observed a hoverfly laying her eggs.

A bumblebee and its mimic

11 Monday Mar 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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Blackthorn blossom, Bombus terrestris, British bumblebees, British hoverflies, Buff-tailed bumblebee, Criorhina ranunculi, Large bearfly

Though there was a cold nor’easterly wind blowing, occasional sunny periods brought out a few insects during my visit to Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park last Friday, and I was lucky enough to spot a couple of Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queens feeding on Blackthorn blossom.

240311 buff-tailed bumblebee

Even better, on one tree I found one of Britain’s larger hoverflies, one that mimics bumblebees, a Large bearfly (Criorhina ranunculi), one that can often be seen in early Spring on the blossom of willows, Blackthorn and Wild cherry. This hoverfly’s tail end can be white, orange or red in colour (this one’s was reddish); to see these variations, and his superb images of this hoverfly, check out Steven Falk’s Flikr album.

240311 Criorhina ranunculi

Out they pop

09 Tuesday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British flies, British hoverflies, Buff-tailed bumblebee, early invertebrate emergence, Honey bee, winter insects

Invertebrates in the winter: some warm sunshine in a sheltered spot and out they pop: my first hoverflies of the year, several species of fly, a couple of Honey bees and a queen Buff-tailed bumblebee.
I should probably add that these images were taken on Sunday, before freezing Baltic air came blasting in from the east, causing temperatures to plummet. I imagine these critters have all now taken shelter once more, in amongst dense vegetation like Ivy or within cosy holes in the earth.

240108 invertebrates awake

Hoverfly larvae

26 Thursday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British hoverflies, Dasysyrphus species, Dasysyrphus species larva, Epistrophe grossulariae larva, hoverfly, hoverfly larvae, Syrphus species, Syrphus species larvae

It’s that time of year when, especially after rain, hoverfly larvae can be found washed off their leaves on to fence posts, railings and stones (e.g. gravestones), particularly under Sycamore trees. Twice in the past week I’ve checked the roadside railings of a local park and found several larvae each time, of three different species.

First, a little cannibalism. The first shot shows a Dasysyrphus species larva that has almost finished eating a larva of one of the Syrphus species of hoverfly. When I returned this way a couple of hours later, the Dasysyrphus sp. larva hadn’t moved far (image on the right) and almost looked like it was considering the snail as prey but I think that would be biting off more than it could chew!

This is just the second Epistrophe grossulariae I’ve seen so I was very pleased to spot it. If you’re wondering what it will grow in to, click this link.

Syrphus species larvae were the most abundant (as with many of these larvae, it’s almost impossible to identify them accurately unless they’re retained and breed through to adulthood). And, as a final treat (?), here’s a little video of one of those Syrphus larvae munching on an aphid (slightly gross but compelling viewing!).

A rat-tailed maggot

03 Tuesday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British hoverflies, hoverfly, hoverfly larva, hoverfly larva on Sycamore, Myathropa florea, Myathropa florea larva

‘What fresh hell is she sharing with us now’, I sense you thinking. For me, though, this was Sunday’s star find, something I’ve wanted to find for ages. This is the larva of a Myathropa florea species of hoverfly that I found living in a sap run on a Sycamore tree. The ‘tail’ is actually its breathing tube, a bit like a long snorkel.

231003 myathropa florea larva

When I spotted it at the edge of a cleft in the Sycamore, I used a stick to move it gently out into the open a little more so I could get some photos. I expected to have to nudge it back but, as you can see in this short video, it turned itself around and slowly undulated itself back in to its home in the puddle of watery sap, leaf litter and insects. Now to find more maggots!