Posted by Susan R Walter on 02-12-2007 19:29
#1
Leucophora sp maybe? I think this is a fly I observed 'tailgating' a largish Andrena. From 19 May 2007, inner city park in east London, in an area of long grass with large bushes (buddleia) and a shallow overgrown ditch bordering.
Arista bare, prealar present and strong, 2 notopleurals but notopleura otherwise bare. Tergites wrap right around so sternites are not visible. Entirely grey dusted body with brown median stripe on tergites (not continuous, but tending to fade out apically on each tergite).
Posted by Susan R Walter on 03-12-2007 14:05
#3
Hurrah! This shares characters with my other
Leucophora sp, so maybe we have here an Anthomyid genus that is reasonably easy to spot - I live in hope ;). They certainly are easy to spot if you see them in action with their hosts. I'll see if I can get it to species level with Acland (not much hope, but I am sure the exercise will be good for my soul, or something:@). Unfortunately I don't have the bee it was trailing. I see their common name is Satellite Fly, which seems rather apt.