Native Drone Fly
Male, Profile, In Flight
Ellura
Lesser Bulb Hover Fly
Female, dorsal
 
                      
Native Drone Fly (Eristalinus punctulatus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Flies (Diptera)
Family: Hover Fly (Syrphidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Native Drone Fly (Eristalinus punctulatus)
This Photo:     Male, Face, In Flight

Thank you Dr Martin Hauser for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere
Males & females are similar size, ~10mm long.
The eyes on males touch, whereas with female the eyes are spread apart.
Incredible polka-dot yellow eyes!
Dr Simon Grove (when referring to these & Beautiful Hover Flies) said "their larvae are at least semiaquatic, eg in ditches, organic mud, wet rotting vegetation perhaps." Given our semi-arid environment, we surmise they were raised either in nearby damns (~3kms away) or the river (~11kms). This is a similar situation to large quantity of Odonata we find here.

Copyright © 2013-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 14-Jan-2013
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.