| Description: I have to say that I was very pleased to discover this insect today and it has been identified as a bumble bee mimic, Cheilosia illustrata. The body is mainly covered in very pale hairs, but usually displays a well-developed band of black hairs across the thorax, and another across tergite 3. The tip of the abdomen often has a visible covering of reddish orange hairs. The black hair bands can be much weaker on some specimens, especially males, so that entirely pale-haired forms are less-recognisable, apart from the wing cloud. There should be little chance of confusing this species with any other, though dark maleLeucozona lucorum look somewhat similar because of the dark wing cloud. It is a widespread and fairly abundant midsummer species on umbellifer flowers in hedgerows and at woodland edges throughout Britain and Ireland, wherever hogweed or angelica are present. |
This Hoverfly was seen by the Exeter Canal today.
Unfortunately it was dead!
Wildlife in a Suburban Garden 
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