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Bombylius discolor
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Lesser known backyard invaders:
This lucky shot is of a Discolored bee fly (Diptera; Bombyliidae; Bombylius discolor Mikan 1793; Vielfarbiger Hummelschweber). It's the biggest of the bee flies in my region (16 mm, bigger than the Large bee fly). It feeds exclusively on Primula elatior in my yard. You can see that the leading edge of the wing is pointing upward; this allows the fly to stand still in the air in hummingbird fashion: fore-and back strokes of the wings with the leading edge first are used to create an uplifting force.
ID: I mention once more the good key in the net from where I draw my wisdom on bee flies: http://home.hccnet.nl/mp.van.veen/bombyliidae/index.html.
In the picture you notice the characteristic signs for the species: the black abdomen and underside, the white abdominal stripe, the brown points on the wings. Bombylius major, the Large bee fly, is seen more often in nature and on TN, but its forewing is brown, the abdomen has no black.
Technical stuff:
The two macro flashes were pointed differently, one to the animal, one to the background. I used f/16 instead of f/19 or f/22 to keep the background unsharp and avoid a loss of sharpness on the animal. With Cut and Paste I had to push the flower in PS a little towards the animal. The rest is as usual. |
Alex99, anel has marked this note useful
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| To anel: Gewagt | meyerd |
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04-13 09:35 |
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