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Tag Archives: Volucella bombylans

The big four

23 Tuesday Aug 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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British hoverflies, hoverfly, Volucella bombylans, Volucella inanis, Volucella pellucens, Volucella species, Volucella zonaria

These are the big beasties of the hoverfly world, the bumblebee, wasp and hornet mimics. Though their size can be a little intimidating, they are all completely harmless to humans, and wonderful to watch going about their daily lives. There are actually five Volucella species in Britain – the woodland species Volucella inflata does occur locally (see A new hoverfly, June 2020) but I’ve not noticed one this year. The big four below are Volucella bombylans, Volucella pellucens (commonly known as the Great pied hoverfly, due to its colouring), Volucella inanis and Volucella zonaria – these are the two mostly easily confused with each other but the most obvious difference is the chestnut colouring of V. zonaria‘s thorax.

220823 volucella hoverflies

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152/365 Hovering

01 Saturday Jun 2019

Posted by sconzani in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#365DaysWild, British hoverflies, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Episyrphus balteatus, Helophilus pendulus, hoverfly, Volucella bombylans, Volucella bombylans subsp. plumata, Xanthogramma pedissequum

I found a new path today, which led me through swathes of long grass bordered by brambles and low shrubby bushes. I emerged with wet shoes and trousers from the dew still coating the grass but with lots of photos of hoverflies, so I will definitely be going back to explore further. Here are the hovers …

190601 1 volucella bombylans
190601 2 volucella bombylans subsp plumata

Volucella bombylans and Volucella bombylans subsp. plumata
At first glance you might think these two hoverflies were bumblebees, and that’s exactly what they want you to think – or, rather, what they want bumblebees to think, because they don’t want to be caught out when sneaking in to lay their eggs in the nests of the bumblebees they mimic (which are the Red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius and the White-tailed bumblebee Bombus lucorum respectively).

190601 3 helophilus pendulus
190601 4 chrysotoxum bicinctum

Helophilus pendulus and Chrysotoxum bicinctum
Do you see why the hoverfly on the left is known as The Footballer? I’m not sure which football team his colourful markings are meant to represent – perhaps Helophilus pendulus has its own team. Its distinctive bands of bright yellow make Chrysotoxum bicinctum one of the easier hoverflies to identify.

190601 5 Xanthogramma pedissequum
190601 6 episyrphus balteatus

Xanthogramma pedissequum and Episyrphus balteatus
Xanthogramma pedissequum is another hoverfly with reasonably easy to identify markings – believe me, not all hoverflies are so easy! And with its rich orange colouring, Episyrphus balteatus looks almost edible, which is probably why it’s called the Marmalade hoverfly.

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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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