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I photographed this courting pair of Eristalis yesterday (2.viii.2009) on chalk downland in southern England. But can anyone identify the species?

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and another angle...

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E. pertinax (based on the cone shaped abdomen of the male)
Nice photos!

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That's typical behaviour for E. interruptus. Also, front tarsi look too dark for pertinax.
A close-up of the wing stigma would make it certain.

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Hi!



I also saw this only for E. interrupta. The males are so crazy, they also hover above much bigger E. tenax or even honey and bumble bees...

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Sadly, I think that's the best 2 photos I have of this pair They were doing all this in some long vegetation and I had to reach down a long way just to get close enough - after I took these the male jumped on the female and they fell further down into the grass and then flew away.

Thanks for the opinions though - very interesting

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Yes, also I only saw this behaviour for interrupta (Eristalis is feminin). This clearly is interrupta. Additional character: in picture 1 the short stigma is very clear.

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Andre..
Sorry, interrupta, not interruptus.
Although eristalis is a feminine noun, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature accepted in 1993 that it was regarded as masculine, then ruled in 2006 that it really was feminine.
I must pay attention!

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Hi!



Once I tried to get this on video (AVI): http://insektenfo...eadid=9099

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Crazy male in Brugge, Belgium, august 8 2009