Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly
S21, Female, Abdomen
Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly
S7, Male, Eyes
| Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly S21, Female, Abdomen | | Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly S7, Male, Eyes | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Flies (Diptera) | ||||
| Family: | Hover Fly (Syrphidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly (Simosyrphus grandicornis) | ||||
| This Photo: | S1, Female, Halteres | ||||
Thank you Stephen Fricker & Thomas Mesaglio for confirming the id of this species for us EXTRA - Photo Specific Information: Most insects have 2 pairs of wings, but flies only have one pair. The Halteres are what's left over from the hind pair of wings. They are still used to help balance the fly in flight. You can just see them here, the 2 white "balls" on the end of curved "sticks" on the side of the body, in front of the middle legs. General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere Male & Females are ~8-9mm long. We find the easiest way to separate the genders is with their eyes; like many fly species. Females have their eyes separated at the top, while males have them touching. Females also have a slighlty wider/rounder abdomen, with more abdominal segments at their posterior than males. While the male posterior bulges underneath (as seen in profile shots here); but it's not very obvious. There is no difference in the wing venation between genders. Note the tiny maxillary palps on the proboscis shot. Notice S15 has no ventral spotting and has different dorsal banding. We believe it to be the same species as these variations can be seen on specimens at the Australian Museum. Similar Species: Half-band Hover Fly (Melangyna viridiceps) | |||||
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