Flower-feeding March Fly - Scaptia auriflua
Family Tabanidae
This page contains pictures and information about March Flies that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 10mm
- Most other female March Flies are blood sucker but this fly is flower feeder. Both male and female of this species feed on nectars only.
- Female, body length 10mm
- The fly covered with dense hair and mimic a bee. They will buzz like a bee to try to scare you away. Picture taken in Yugarapul Park during early summer. There are many of them in the same area near the Bulimba Creek. Note the piercing mouthparts in front of the eyes.
- Male, body length 10mm
- Their eyes colour are different under different lighting conditions. Male March Fly's eyes always meet in the middle.
- Photo : Sandra Caldwell, Lake Macquarie
- The above pictures was taken by Sandra Caldwell. There are more beautiful insect pictures in her web site Blooms and Beasties.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p755.
