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Tag Archives: hoverfly larva

365/366 2020 insects

30 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British hoverflies, British insects, British leafhoppers, Cicadella viridis, Helophilus trivittatus, hoverfly larva, Italian Alder aphid, leafhopper

These are some of the highlights of my year in insects:

201230 hoverfly larva

I found my First hoverfly larva (and I’ve since found another, though not been able to identify either) …

201230 helophilus trivittatus

… and my first examples of the hoverfly species Helophilus trivittatus.

201230 Crypturaphis grassii

And, very recently, my first Italian Alder aphids, which I’ve since found on another Italian Alder tree on the other side of town.

201230 cicadella viridis

Here’s one I haven’t blogged – it’s a leafhopper, Cicadella viridis, which I saw for the first time during one of the two times this year that I actually caught a train to venture out of my local walking area (this was immediately after our first lockdown ended, when I dared to make two local train journeys – not been on a train or bus since).

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37/366 My first hoverfly larva

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

British hoverflies, dormant hoverfly larvae, hoverfly, hoverfly larva, Platycheirus larva, Platycheirus species

When I first saw this creature, I thought it might be a butterfly or moth larva but I was wrong – nothing new there!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Thanks to a Twitter pal, I now know it’s a hoverfly larva and, with some excellent help from an entomologist who specialises in flies, I also now know it’s one of the Platycheirus family of hoverflies but not which of their 25 British species.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Apparently, little is known about the larvae of some species of hoverflies: their larvae have not yet been fully examined or described, so you really need to rear a dormant larva through to adulthood to be sure. Not knowing that, I left this one in the woodland where I saw it, but next time …

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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  • Alder flowers March 7, 2021
  • Three more hoverflies March 6, 2021
  • Fern not fungi March 5, 2021
  • Nest-builders at work March 4, 2021
  • Common pocket-moss March 3, 2021

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