Flower-feeding March Fly - Scaptia (Scaptia) auriflua
Family Tabanidae
This page contains pictures and information about March Flies that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 10mm
- Most other female March Flies are blood sucker but this fly is flower feeder. Both male and female of this species feed on nectars only.
- Female, body length 10mm
- The fly covered with dense hair and mimic a bee. They will buzz like a bee to try to scare you away. Picture taken in Yugarapul Park during early summer. There are many of them in the same area near the Bulimba Creek. Note the piercing mouthparts in front of the eyes.
- Photo : Sandra Caldwell, Lake Macquarie
- The above pictures was taken by Sandra Caldwell in Lake Macquarie, Newcastle. There are more beautiful insect pictures in her web site Blooms and Beasties. It looked a bit different from those found in Brisbane. The antenna and legs are black in colour while those found in Brisbane are brown.
- Male, body length 10mm
- The same fly, different eyes colours depend on light reflection. Their eyes colour are different under different lighting conditions. Male March Fly's eyes always meet in the middle.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p755.
- 2. On the Fly, The Interactive Atlas and Key to Australian Fly Families CD Rom - Hamilton, J. et al. 2006. Brisbane : CBIT & ABRS.
- 3. The Tabanidae (Diptera) of Australia III. Subfamily Pangoninae, tribe Scionini and supplement to Pangoniini - Mackerras, I.M., 1960, Australian Journal of Zoology, 8: 1-152.
