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Hi :D

One word - Help!

I have searched everywhere, well almost.

Taken today, 20th September. My garden a few miles south of Lincoln UK, yes that garden again.;) Feeding on Agastache.

3 pics

Janet :)

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#2

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#3

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Syrphus (cf vitripennis) with a developmental deformity?

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I have found a female which is just like mine on xespok's site, name simply Syrphus sp. and that was in 2006!

http://xespok.net...75739d8acf

We only have S. ribesii, vitripennis and torvus although S. rectus is listed there are no records.

As mine matches the one on xespok's site it is unlikely to be some sort of misfit. Interesting! I hope someone can shed some light on this. :o

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Sorry Stephen, I hadn't seen your post when I posted.

As you might now see the fly which looks the same as mine on xespok's site I think there has to be more to it.

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This is a rather common feature on S. vitripennis, especially females.
I haven't seen it as far as I remember, on the other two species.

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Thanks Andre. :)

It is strange if it's rather common that I haven't seen one like it, but I have only been observing for about 5 years. ;)

Stephen, you must have come across this before? I'm interest to know how common it is here.

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Oddly enough I noticed a similar one the day after you posted yours. I have seen it on Syrphus before, but never really thought about it or identified the species. I guess it's not uncommon here.

Stephen.

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Thanks for your reply Stephen. For you to have seen one around the same time does seem strange! Could this be something to do with weather patterns during development I wonder?

I wonder who else has seen one like this now, if anyone has please weigh in with your observations. Also it would be interesting to hear from others how often they have seen this variation here, or anywhere for that matter.

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Two old threads refer to this aberration:
http://diptera.in...ad_id=9524
http://www.dipter...d_id=18378

The second is my own modest contribution, showing the only two such females I've ever seen, compared with thousands of "normals". They were hard to miss, too, being obviously out of the ordinary.

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Thanks Chris, those threads were around 2 and 3 years ago. To see two in the same area I assume, and not far apart in time perhaps means a common parent?

A bit like humans who have certain abnormalities such as albinos maybe? The trait seems to be much the same in these flies, where in others such as Episyrphus balteatus dark specimens usually vary.

I too could not fail to notice this one, it zoomed in while I was taking pics of a male E. balteatus, there were few syrphids left around and a late growing Agastache flower attracted them. The black area on the abdomen was very black and stood out well.