Wasp-mimicking Hoverfly - Mesembrius bengalensis
Family Syrphidae
This page contains pictures and information about Wasp-mimicking Hoverflies that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 10mm, female
- This Wasp-mimicking Hover Fly is bright yellow in colour with black
stripes. There are three conspicuous black on thorax. The abdomen is banded
with black and yellow. On the 2nd segment the black bands are joined by a
median band. The wings are smoked in pale brown.
- We often found this wasp-mimicking hover fly in bush near Bulimba Creek early summer. The warning colours just good enough to mimic a wasp. It has short antenna and one pair of wings which tell us it is a fly. From the wing-veins pattern we can tell it is a hoverfly.
- This fly is common along the Bulimba Creek near Sunnybank. The fly was found either resting on leaves or feeding on flowers.
- From reference information the larvae are aquatic. They are filter feeders in stagnant waters.
Male
- Males look about the same as female with paler colour patterns on abdomen. The male in the photos were found together with the females in the same area same time.
- Reference:
- 1. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
- 2. Mesembrius sp. - Common Hover Fly - Graeme's Insects of Townsville, Australia.
- 3. Species Mesembrius bengalensis (Wiedemann, 1819) - Australian Biological Resources Study, Australian Faunal Directory.
- 4. Revision of Australian Syrphidae (Diptera). Part I - Ferguson, E.W. 1926, Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 51: 137-183 [160] (Helophilus bengalensis).
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