Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly
S5&S6, Pair, Mating
Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly
S15, Male, ventral
| Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly S5&S6, Pair, Mating | | Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly S15, Male, ventral | | ||
 | 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: | 🔍S12, Male, ventral🔎 | ||||
Thank you Stephen Fricker & Thomas Mesaglio 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 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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