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Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia
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Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia
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Daneway Banks Nature Reserve. Glos. SO939036
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Lake Hart, Florida, United States
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Lakeland, Florida, United States
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Embalse Jandula. Andujar NP, Jaen Province, Spain
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Florida, United States
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Arizona, United States
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There were at least three of these huge bee-flies pollinating the Conostylis. I took the photos in October 2012, on my old phone, but I still haven't found an ID. Look at them! They're huge!Hammond Park, Perth EDIT: Jean Hort suggested Oncodosia - apparently there's four species, all found only in Southern Australia, and judging by the black and white checks, this one is O. patula, which is found here in Perth.
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The flies were quite plentiful and appeared to be laying eggs while hovering above small ant nests and disturbed sand on the track. These were also hovering over the leaf litter along the track edge. They occasionally rested momentarily on the sand or perched on low shrubs and grasses.
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Poecilanthrax lucifer. Bee flies, as you might expect, look like bees, probably to their advantage. (In general I try to at least have the eyes in focus with an insect shot, but I'll make an exception in the case of a bug in the air.)
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Exmouth, Western Australia, Australia
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Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia
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Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Munjua erugataAnother one of the larger beeflies. There are so many this year of different Bombyliidae genera, tiny minuscule ones to large. In this location, this seemed to be plentiful and we watched them gather sand and move/fly/hover around near the ground. Despite their size, other smaller insects chase them away.
Wikipedia tells us"The larval stages are predators or parasitoids of other insect eggs and larvae. The adult females usually deposit eggs in the vicinity of possible hosts, quite often in the burrows of beetles or wasps/solitary bees. Where most often in the insect world parasitoids are highly specific in the host species that they will infect, some bombyliids are opportunistic and will use a variety of hosts.While bombyliids have a great variety of species, rarely are individuals of any one species abundant, and this is perhaps one of the poorest known families of insects relative to its size. There are at least 4,500 described species, and probably thousands as of yet undescribed."
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A very impressive beefly ~20mm long in close vicinity to the flowering
Grevillea stenobotryaThe males were protecting their areas and buzzing loudly as they flew, attacking any other insect visitor. A number of stick perches were available for them to take advantage of.
Comptosia xanthobasis ID with thanks Michael JefferiesRelated closely to
Comptosia aurescensPhoto: Fred
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Briantspuddle, England, United Kingdom
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Stony Cross, England, United Kingdom
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Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia
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Gambrills, Maryland, United States
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Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia
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Stony Cross, England, United Kingdom
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Stanthorpe, Queensland, Australia