Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly
S19, Male, Proboscis & Palps
Ellura
Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly
S12, Male, ventral
 
                      
Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly (Simosyrphus grandicornis)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:     🔍S5&S6, Pair, Mating🔎

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)

Copyright © 2015-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 25-Oct-2015
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.