#eristalinus

i had a fateful encounter with this Eristalinus taeniops lady right outside my house. these are my favorite local syrphids and i carefully examine every drone fly i see hoping i'll spot those trademark eyes, usually with little success, so it was nice of this one to visit me and spare me the effort

A frequent problem on insect ID groups is somebody submitting a photo that was apparently taken from a few kilometers away, with a potato. And if the photo is then posted to Facebook the quality goes from merely garbage to utterly feculent dogshit. Usually, your only response can be something like the following -

As an example of the kind of thing I have to deal with on a regular basis, the following photo of a ‘fly-looking thing on mint flowers’, in Melbourne. At least the photographer admitted in advance the photo was poor, and wasn’t actually expecting an immeadiate answer or a refund on his pest control payments (I do pest control for a living - most of the IDs are just for fun).

That said, sometimes you manage to ID them anyway.

Photo by the Chews, in Brisbane. 

Eristalinus (Lathyrophthalmus) punctulatus is one of the hoverflies that have large aquatic larva with a long butt-snorkel, commonly known as rat-tailed maggots, that live in drains, swamps, sewage ponds and other stagnant water with lots of microorganisms for them to eat. The adults are enthusiastic pollinators, but I suppose nectar must make a nice change from rancid liquid feces.