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Sorry for the previous misspelling.

Portschinsky is a Oekrainian name, therefore written with -y ending.
In Polish, it would have been -i.
And then there is always the sh/sch matter.

This spelling gets you hits !

Anyway, our special guest start, introducing to you;

Portschinskia loewi (Oestridae: Hypodermatidae).

23 mm in size, mind you !!

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Always the same, the pic doesn't show. Second try

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This is starting to get ridiculous. SOrry

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Right. SO blank in file name are forbidden.

Second pic.

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It is a grate pleasure to see name of Josef (Iosif) Porchinsky on that site.
Porchinsky described several species (not only in Diptera). He also wrote several wonderful articles on life history of Lucilia bufonivora, Hydrotaea dentipes, Stomoxis calcitrans ect? I?m afraid being in Russian this works mostly are not well known.
Porchinsky worked and lived in S-Petersburg.

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Great fly! It looks like a bumblebee (the body). The head is really very strange!

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This is the best bumblebee-mimic ever seen, trust me.
Especially since the head is so small. Really, it's even better than the best Syrphidae, like Pocota and Arctophila. I've seen them all, this is the one !
Nikita, thanks for the additional information.
Porchinsky would indeed be the correct spelling in English transcription, but I wouldn't add to the already existing confusion in spelling.
(Portschinky no doubt being the German transcription)

Theo

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Put these photos in the gallery! Or is it no possible?

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where can we find this fly? Among bumblebees? :) I had take a look in bumblees to seek for Fallenia sp. (Nemestrinidae) but nothing so far. :(

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Well, they are extremely rare and confined to the higher regions of the Central Asian mountains, even rarer in the Alps at high altitude. One reason is their larvae live in rodents like Marmotta. Adults are extreme hilltoppers.

Theo

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They are so rare, even in collections, I would not be surprised if photos above are the only existing photos of the genus.


Theo

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There is Marmota marmota in Pyrenees as well. One of these days I will go to the Pyrennees. Perhaps that place could be a possible hypothesis to see those flies.
But it is important to know when we can see the imago... (which are the months for them..)
http://links.jsto...0.CO%3B2-7

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Also here in Romania for example in Retezat National Park where i'm biologist we have marmots. they disapeared something like 200 years ago and aprox 50 years they have been reintroduced.

will be interesting to see if the species is present here.

so maybe some hints for searching that species?

thanks,
cosmln

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I will try to find this fantastic fly this year! Any hints for the possible best spots in Spanish Pyrennees?