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Post by nomad on Jul 27, 2017 8:09:03 GMT
Sometimes when you are out and about studying the fascinating World of insects, by much patient searching, you may be lucky enough to find a rarity and it is a grand surprise if that rarity ought not to be there. At Dry Sandford Pit in Oxfordshire the other day, I came across a very striking large female of the lovely Bee mimic hoverfly, Eriozona syrphoides of the subfamily Syrphinae that was not only rare but nearly all the records of this species in Britain come from Wales, Northern England and Scotland. It has turned up away from its main distribution areas such as the Hampshire, New Forest and the London area but these are odd occurrences. This species was first discovered in Britain in 1957 in Lancaster (single record) and during the 1968 in Wales, which would suggest it is a recent colonist. It has increased its range northwards in recent years. In its traditional areas, it a arboreal hoverfly, descending to feed upon Umbellifers growing along woodland rides in spruce plantations but has always been regarded as rare species. In Europe, the larvae are reported to feed on the aphid, Cinara pinea that feed upon spruce. There seems to be very few photographs of this species in Britain. Below, A female, Eriozona syrphoides in Oxfordshire, perhaps the first county record, I await confirmation.
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Post by nomad on Jul 27, 2017 8:46:53 GMT
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Post by Paul K on Jul 27, 2017 13:22:04 GMT
Fantastic photos and great discovery. Congrats to Peter.
Paul
PS I was wondering if you are actually collecting now Diptera too as that would be great scientific material besides your superb digital records.
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Post by nomad on Jul 27, 2017 13:52:45 GMT
Thanks for you interest and comments Paul. It is always gratifying to find something special, although it just nice to be out enjoying the peace and fresh air. The weather in the UK is very fickle at the moment, no two days are alike, you seem to get one good sunny day, followed by several windy and wet ones. A feature of this year has been the wind, there is often a strong breeze blowing, not ideal for taking pictures of insects but I was lucky on this occasion, it was humid and an unusually still day. I had been at this site for several hours without seeing anything new but I enjoy mooching around, sometimes you need to really work a locality. I never seem to find much rushing from one place to another. I am only photographing the Diptera at the moment, but many make a reference collection for study. I quite enjoy this challenge of photographing Diptera, hoverflies especially, are very hard to get close to, and I am content to use a macro lens because of the quality of the results that you get.
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Post by Paul K on Jul 27, 2017 14:24:20 GMT
I see weather is different this year all around the world. Italy is extremely hot as I heard, south Thailand has unusual amount of rain ( Ko Tao ), in Ontario were I stay now we only have rain and clouds this year ( one sunny/cloudy day per week on average ). Is it going to be a regular pattern or is it just this year
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Post by trehopr1 on Jul 27, 2017 16:06:17 GMT
I have always had a side interest in various Dipteran families. The Syrphidae, Bombyliidae, Asilidae, and Tabanidae have always been especially notable in my mind for their many cool species. I only collect a specimen here and there when the net is available but, a few nifty ones I sighted at other times have lived to fly another day ! Fascinating order of creatures.
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Post by nomad on Jul 28, 2017 0:45:40 GMT
In a recent book, Britain's Hoverflies, (2015) the authors devote six pages to the photography of these insects with many useful tips, they also have five pages on forming and maintaining a reference collection. (Something unheard of in today's butterfly books). Many Diptera, especially the smaller kinds can only be identified with the aid of a specimen. However, they advocate responsible collecting, they do not advocate collecting rare and endangered species that can be easily be identified.
In this instance, Eriozona syrphoides, and other rare species, I have managed to photograph recently were in a Nature Reserve. I have recently viewed large collections of Diptera and one thing I have noticed, is that in many instances, the colours fade badly over time unlike digital photographs. If you are into collecting or photography or both, so much can learnt by just observing the insects behaviour in their natural habitat, not all the species will be found just at nectar sources.
I believe the allure of Syrphidae, is that many are brightly coloured and they are harmless insects, and many of their larvae feed on aphids, so the common species are good for the garden.
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