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Family Syrphidae
- This page contains pictures and information about Slender Hover
Flies in subfamily Syrphinae that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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- Hover Flies in this subfamily Syrphinae is from small to medium in size.
They have slender body and short antenna. Most of them mimic small bees or
warps with yellow and black bands.
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- They are also known as Flower Flies. Slender Hover Flies visit
flowers as bees and wasps. They
are major pollinators of some flower plants. They are usually seen hovering
or resting on flowers.
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- Some species in tribe Syrphini in this subfamily look very similar.
We call all of them Common Hover Flies. They are hard to be distinguished
in the field and some of them may not be common.
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Tribe Syrphini - Common Slender Hover Flies
- Common Hover Fly I
 
- Ischiodon scutellaris, male, female, body length 10mm,
larvae feeding on aphids, body length 10mm.
- We sometimes find this Hover fly hovering among the hibiscus plants in our
backyard searching for aphids. Their larvae are the predator of aphids. The
adults are yellow and black in colour look like bees or a wasps. They have the
typical fly head with large pair of red compound eyes and very short antenna.
More pictures and information please visit this page.
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- Common Hover Fly II
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  - Simosyrphus grandicornis,
body length 10mm
- The Simosyrphus species look very similar to
the Ischiodon scutellaris above. They can be distinguished
by Simosyrphus sp. has the abdominal tergite 2-5 margined and third antennal segment apically broadly rounded. We
have more information in this page.
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- Common Hover Fly III
  - ?
Eupeodes sp., body length 10mm
- We found this species only once and did
not find any information about them. Check this page
for more information.
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- Common Hover Fly
IV
 - Melangyna sp., body length 10mm.
- The above picture shows another species of Hover Flies. We found this
species once near Bulimba Creek. Please check this page
for more information.
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- Black-banded Hoverfly
 
- Episyrphus viridaureus, body length 8 mm
- We found many of them in Yugarapul
Park during early summer. This is a small hover fly mimicking wasp.
This fly even have the narrow waist. Please also check this page
for more information.
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- Small Banded Hoverfly
- Episyrphus sp., body length 6 mm
- This is a small hover fly. We found them a few times along Bulimba Creek
and in Karawatha Forest. We have more information in this page.
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- Slender Banded Hoverfly
- Episyrphus sp., body length 6 mm
- We found this hoverfly in Yimbin Park on 2011 Boxing Day. We have many
pictures in this page.
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- Slender Hoverfly
- ? Allobacha or Baccha sp., body length 10mm
- The
Hoverfly species resembles small black wasps. It is black in colour with
waisted abdomen.
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Tribe Bacchini - Small Slender Hover Flies
- Small Hover Fly I
- Xanthandrus agrolas, body length 8mm
- This Hover Fly look similar to the Ischiodon scutellaris above,
except the thorax is all black.
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- Small Hover Fly II
- Melanostoma sp. body length 6mm
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- Small Hover Fly III
 
 - ? sp. body length 6mm
- Photos taken in Karawatha Forest.
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p763.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p368.
- 3. Family SYRPHIDAE -
Australasian/Oceanian Diptera Catalog - Web Version, by F. Christian Thompson & J.R. Vockeroth, 2007.
- 4. Syrphidae - Graeme's Insects of Townsville, Australia.
- 5. Diptera | What Bug Is That? - CSIRO, 2010. Australian Insect Families, viewed 30 October 2010, <http://anic.ento.csiro.au/insectfamilies>.
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