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Hi,

I found this Bombylius sp. today in an area where I have only encountered B. major before.
Solitary bees tn this particular patch of garden are A, cineraria and A. nitida (in case this is relevant).

With only a slight tint to the wings, I am not sure if this is also B. major (maybe fresh and therefore only lightly coloured?)
or a different species. Who can help?

Body measured approx. 10mm

Hamburg, Germany, slightly elevated patch of lawn in front of a house, 20-March 2022

Thanks :)

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Lateral view

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Hi Renate, I think it is a B. canescens:
- wings without dark markings
- black hairs behind the eyes
- yellow bristles at the wing base
additional proof would be the knob of the halter: white for canescens

Veldtabel wolzwevers van Nederland (J.T. Smit)

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Difficult to ID this fly. I also think this is a male of either canescens or venosus. However, since the sides of the abdomen has black furring, and there are black trichiae among the abdominal furring, I am inclined towards venosus. Would be a very early date for that species though.

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Difficult to ID this fly. I also think this is a male of either canescens or venosus. However, since the sides of the abdomen has black furring, and there are black trichiae among the abdominal furring, I am inclined towards venosus. Would be a very early date for that species though.

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Thanks a lot for your input.

I think I'll file this one under cf. canescens/venosus for now, though from internet search, I get the
impression that B. venosus is more likely this far north in Germany.

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Do you know the feeling when something's niggling at you?

I took the original RAW file and darkened it as much as I could without obscuring too many details.
Now I'm actually leaning towards B. major again lol

The markings are not as dark as most pictures show, but they have the same shape.

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Could well be. This could explain the early date.