| Positive | wallaby1 | On Jun 6, 2007, wallaby1 from Lincoln
United Kingdom
(Zone 8a) wrote:E. balteatus is one of the most common hoverflies in Britain, and can be seen much of the year. They visit a variety of flowers, but have a particular liking for dandelions.
The distinguishing marks are the 'moustache' shaped black marks on two of the yellow body sections. They also have faint grey stripes running longitudinally along the thorax, which show up best in a photograph.
Based on pictures I have seen on wikipedia, the female has a large black triangular shape on the last tail section, where the male has a small black smudge. It also appears that the female has narrower yellow patches which do not meet up on the section near the top of the body.
This looks like a wasp but is not, the larva is terrestrial and a voracious consumer of aphids. With the adults being a pollinator, consider this a friendly bug. |
