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Photo#599073
Syrphidae? 4 - Xanthomelanodes

Syrphidae? 4 - Xanthomelanodes
Boulder Creek Cluntry Club area, Santa Cruz County, California, USA
October 11, 2011
In the sweet Alysum. The flowers measured out at about 4 to 4.5 mm across

Images of this individual: tag all
Syrphidae? 4 - Xanthomelanodes Syrphidae? 4 - Xanthomelanodes Syrphidae? 4 - Xanthomelanodes Syrphidae? 4 - Xanthomelanodes

Moved
Moved from Tachinidae.

Moved
Moved from Flies.

Phasiinae?
Check in Phasiinae.

 
I didn't see
I didn't see any thing close except feather legged flies, and mine doesn't have that on it's legs. The abdomen has circular stripes instead of bright orange with black at the end, though it is the right size for several species, and the Thorax? seems to be colored differently then any I saw.

Several did have that distinctive front part of the wing being dark.

 
Xanthomelanodes?
Compare Xanthomelanodes, which is a featherless Trichopoda.

 
One
I do find one Xanthomelanodes that has a similar body markings to mine, and it is about 50 miles away across the Santa Cruz Mountains and over San Francisco Bay in Alameda

 
Is that it?
Not knowing what I'm looking for in figuring out species apart, I note the orange abdomen or orange with a dark stripe down the back on the ones in the Guide, instead of the ringed stripe one I have, I have a two toned Thorax, instead of a single colored one, though that doesn't seem really prominent.

I do see some orange on the upper legs in my last photo and the body shape and how it holds itself is identical though.

Are my color variations not important, er... not relevant to the ID? I'm uneducated enough on bugs I'd be afraid of making any certain statement, I wrong way more often then even being close.

No...
...with such big calypteres (the pairy orange appendage basad of wings) ---> Calyptratae. I would guess Tachinidae.

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