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BugGuide Gathering
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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Flies (Diptera) » Aschiza » Syrphid Flies (Syrphidae) » Eristalinae » Ceriini » Sphiximorpha » Sphiximorpha willistonii
Photo#179268
Syrphid Fly - Sphiximorpha willistonii
Copyright © 2008 Sam Houston

Syrphid Fly - Sphiximorpha willistonii
Sand Springs, Osage County, Oklahoma, USA
April 27, 2008
Size: 9.52mm (3/8")
Please help with ID.

Images of this individual: tag all
Syrphid Fly - Sphiximorpha willistonii Syrphid Fly - Sphiximorpha willistonii
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Contributed by Sam Houston on 27 April, 2008 - 7:31pm
Last updated 28 April, 2008 - 9:38am

Not wasp.
This syrphid fly would be happy to know that you mistook it for a wasp! That is the whole point of its mimicry, of course. Maybe one of our fly experts can give you a genus, as I know our syrphid guide pages are overflowing! Great images.
… Eric R. Eaton, 27 April, 2008 - 7:38pm login or register to post comments

 
Wow.
Nice pic. That's one amazing potter wasp mimic fly!

I believe this is Sphiximorpha willistonii.

Great addition to the two guide references here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/57861
… Ross Hill, 27 April, 2008 - 7:42pm login or register to post comments

 
....
When it looks so much like a wasp how can you tell it's a syrphid (just for my own knowledge) ? It doesn't look like the typical syrphids I'm used to seeing.

Now that I look closer I do see the yellow halteres....
… Sam Houston, 28 April, 2008 - 8:13am login or register to post comments

 
How to tell.
There are several ways you can spot a mimic. In this case, from just the photo, you can easily see that there is only one set of wings (true wasps have two sets - the second set smaller); what I noticed, however, before the wings, was the eyes that were much more enlarged and wrapped around the head compared to the normal potter wasp, and the antennae were also different in that potter wasp antennae are more segmented.
… Ross Hill, 28 April, 2008 - 12:19pm login or register to post comments

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