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Family Syrphidae
- This page contains pictures and information about Slender Hover
Flies in subfamily Syrphinae that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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- Hover Flies in this subfamily Syrphinae are from small to medium in size.
They have slender body and short antenna. Most of them mimic small bees or
warps with yellow and black bands on abdomen.
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- They are also known as Flower Flies. Slender Hover Flies visit
flowers as bees and wasps. They
are major pollinators of flower plants. They are usually seen hovering
or resting on flowers.
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- Some species in tribe Syrphini of this subfamily may look very similar.
We call all of them Slender Hover Flies. They are hard to be distinguished
in the field.
Tribe Bacchini - Small Slender Hover Flies
- Small Slander Hover Fly
- Melanostoma apicale, body length 6mm
- This is a small size Slender Hover Fly. It has the black face, black thorax
and black scutellum. Abdomen is pale black with yellow maculae. Antennae and
legs are yellow. Please check this page for more
information.
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- Small Yellow Hover Fly
 
 - ? Melanostoma sp. body length 6mm
- Photos taken in Karawatha Forest on May 2010. Please check this page
for more information.
Tribe Syrphini - Common Slender Hover Flies
- Waisted Slender Hoverfly
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- ? Allobacha sp., body length 10mm
- This hoverfly has the slender body with yellow and black banded elongated
abdomen, with 2nd and 3rd tergum narrower. Thorax is shiny black. The face is
pale yellow. Antenna are yellow. Legs are black with yellow tarsus. It wings
are tinted to darker colour. Please check this page
for more information.
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- White-banded Slender Hover Fly
 - Betasyrphus serarius, body length 10mm.
- This Hover Fly has dense gray hairs on face. On eyes there are also covered with fine hairs. The thorax is dark grey in colour with paler colour scutellum. Abdomen is banded with black and white colours.
Please check this page for more
information.
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- Grey-banded Hover Fly
 
- Episyrphus sp., body length 6 mm
- This is a small hover fly. There is the black stripe on its face. The
thorax is black in colour with pale stripes. The scutellum is pale brown in
colour. The abdomen is yellow with black and grey cross bands. The grey bands
on abdomen is quite variable. Please also check this page
for more information.
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- Yellow-shouldered Slender Hover Fly
 
- Ischiodon scutellaris, body length 10mm,
larvae feeding on aphids, body length 10mm.
- This Hover Fly has the yellow
edge on each side of thorax. We sometimes find this Hover fly hovering among the hibiscus plants in our
backyard. They are searching for aphids. Their larvae are the predator of aphids. The
adults are yellow and black in colour look like bees or wasps. They have the
typical fly head with large pair of red compound eyes and short antenna.
More pictures and information please can be found in this page.
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- Black-headed Hover Fly
 - Melangyna sp., body length 10mm.
- This Hover Fly
has the antenna, head, thorax and scutellum in black colour. We found this
species easily near Bulimba Creek. This Hover Fly is common along creek with
flowers plants. Please check this page
for more information.
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- Yellow-shouldered Stout Hover Fly
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 - Simosyrphus grandicornis,
body length 10mm
- The Simosyrphus species look very similar to
the Ischiodon scutellaris above. They can be distinguished
by Simosyrphus sp. has the abdominal tergite 2-5 margined and third antennal segment apically broadly rounded. We
have more information in this page.
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- Orange-banded Slender Hover Fly
- Sphaerophoria sp., body length 6 mm
- We found this hoverfly in Yimbin Park on 2011 Boxing Day. This Hover Fly has the face and scutellum bright yellow in colour. Abdomen is banded with orange-yellow and black. We have many
pictures in this page.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p763.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p368.
- 3. Family SYRPHIDAE -
Australasian/Oceanian Diptera Catalog - Web Version, by F. Christian Thompson & J.R. Vockeroth, 2007.
- 4. Syrphidae - Graeme's Insects of Townsville, Australia.
- 5. Diptera | What Bug Is That? - CSIRO, 2010. Australian Insect Families, viewed 30 October 2010, <http://anic.ento.csiro.au/insectfamilies>.
- 6. Flower Flies (Syrphidae)
- Flower Flies (Syrphidae), LIFEDESK COMMUNITY.
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