Hoverfly - Toxomerus marginatus

Moved

… Martin Hauser, 10 November, 2009 - 7:53pm

Sorry again, after Ron persis

Sorry again, after Ron persisted nagging me about this one, I realized I made the wrong ID.... This is marginatus. And one other difference between marginatus and geminatus is that marginatus has a completely yellow hind femur, while genimatus has a black ring there. Also the shape of the abdomen is different, and of course the yellow margin, which I just did not see in this one when I looked at it first... Sorry for the confusion and thanks to Ron for not letting it slide...
Martin

… Martin Hauser, 10 November, 2009 - 7:53pm

Thanks to you, Martin, for straightening this out.

We're all learning, and I'll bet there isn't a person here who is 100% on IDs. I look back at some of my previous mistakes - especially with syrphids - and wince. Your expertise and ongoing help on fly posts has had a major, positive impact on this site and has made syrphids one of my favorite things to shoot.

… Ron Hemberger, 10 November, 2009 - 10:21pm

Toxomerus geminatus

Sorry this is T. geminatus. T marginatus has a yellow margin (name!) which is not interrupted around the abdomen, politus has a yellow scutellum and occidentalis is on the west coast, so the only species left is geminatus, which is very common in the east.

… Martin Hauser, 28 June, 2006 - 5:30pm

I am confused

Sorry, Martin, will you explain again why this is T. geminatus and not marginatus, I don't see it.

… Beatriz Moisset, 9 July, 2006 - 5:46am

We're confused too -

We would have called this marginatus

… john and jane balaban, 11 July, 2006 - 12:50am

sorry

Sorry, I did not want to confuse you. T. marginatus is one of the most common once and it is easily ID by the yellow margin which goes around the abdomen. This can be hard or confusing to see in pictures, cause the belly of the fly is yellow too. But if you have the specimen, preferably under a microscop, you will see that the tergites (which are the "plates" or segments on top of the abdomen - are yellow at the margin and the black coloration stops and does not reach the side margin, while in all other Toxomerus species, the black goes right to the margin of the tergit. Keep this in mind and check several (especially female) pics of marginatus. The abdomen of the female is more flat while the male abdomens are often more rounded so the margin is even harder to see...
Hope that helps
Marti

… Martin Hauser, 11 July, 2006 - 3:56am

marginatus v. geminatus

Doesn't geminatus have alternating or interrupted yellow and black on the abdominal margin? This bug doesn't appear to have that characteristic.

… John Schneider, 21 April, 2009 - 5:12pm

I also think T. marginatus

… Ron Hemberger, 5 November, 2009 - 5:23pm

My vote

I always thought that this was marginatus.

… Beatriz Moisset, 5 November, 2009 - 6:04pm

Oh, my!

Does this mean that we have been looking at the wrong characters and misidentifying half of the T. marginatus and geminatus? Would you have the time to check them for us? Thanks in advance.

… Beatriz Moisset, 11 July, 2006 - 4:21pm

Toxomerus geminatus

Thank you very much for your ID and explanation, Martin.

Nolie

… Nolie Schneider, 28 June, 2006 - 6:02pm

Toxomerus marginatus

Toxomerus marginatus, would be my guess...

… gehan gehale, 28 June, 2006 - 5:12pm

Toxomerus

Thank you, Gehan.

Nolie

… Nolie Schneider, 28 June, 2006 - 6:02pm