Half-band Hover Fly
Dorsal
Ellura
Half-band Hover Fly
In Flight
 
                      
Half-band Hover Fly (Melangyna viridiceps)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Flies (Diptera)
Family: Hover Fly (Syrphidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Half-band Hover Fly (Melangyna viridiceps)
This Photo:     Profile

Thank you Stephen Fricker & Tony and Jenny Dominelli for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills, Coastal Areas and elsewhere
There are other similar hover flies to this in SA.
A little known one is Eupeodes confrater. Matthew Vosper said "bands curve forwards at the sides" with those.
There is also the well know Simosyrphus grandicornis shown below. It has a yellow face as well as a yellow stripe on it's "shoulder" (side of the pronotum).

Similar Species: Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly (Simosyrphus grandicornis)

Copyright © 2009-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 15-Sep-2009
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.