5830 Fly Mimicking as Potter Wasp_head

Four-lined Hornet Fly (Spilomyia sayi).
Striped abdomen fly looking like the potter wasps foraging nearby in size and color. In fact, I never noticed it was a fly until I looked at the photos. Around 1/2 inch long. Besides the pond at home, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. 4 August 2022

Spilomyia genus
Numbers: 11 spp. in our area, 17 in the New World(1)(2), >100 in Eurasia(3)

Size: 12-17 mm

Identification: good wasp mimics: pattern of pigment on eyes hides "fly eyes"; V-mark on thorax, short antennae
keys to spp. in(1)(4)

Range
Widespread in the New World & Eurasia(3); in our area, widespread but poorly represented in se. US: 4 spp. are eastern widespread, 4 western widespread, and 3 restricted to AZ-TX-OK(1)

Habitat: Larvae in water-filled tree holes

Season: Summer to fall

Remarks
mimics of social wasps, have habit of resting on the four posterior legs and waving front legs about in almost the same way that vespids move their antennae(5)
bugguide.net/node/view/3288

S. sayi
Size: 12-16 mm
Range: NB-AB south to NJ-KS(2)
Habitat: Larvae found in the decaying heartwood of deciduous trees.

Adults most commonly found around wetlands and sometimes encountered hilltopping(1)

Season: Jul-Oct in ON(3)

2022-23: Judge merit award out of 1000 entries in Photocrowd 'Eyes of Animals (not humans) ' competition in April 2023.

Taken on: August 4, 2022

Tags:

Asteraceae

color

home

fly

Hornet Fly

summer

plant part

black

yellow

white

goldenrod

flower

hoverfly

insect

Animal

Solidago

body part

striped

Saskatchewan

Four-lined Hornet Fly

mimic

Canada

eye

antenna

Canon

Spilomyia sayi

Syrphydae

syrphid

wild

wildlife

nature

#bokeh « less

Sets appears in: • Insects and Invertebrates • Saskatchewan 2022 more » • Competitions 2022-23 « less

Camera: Canon EOS R10, f/8.0, 1/1000 sec, 500mm, ISO 640 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS R10
Lens:	RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.001 sec (1/1000)
Focal Length:	500mm
ISO:	640
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	No Flash
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Partial
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 11.4 (Windows)
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