Fly-like insect on Pericallis flower
Just a quick post to ask if anyone can identify an insect I saw today on this pretty plant I bought yesterday at a garden centre. It’s a Pericallis x hybrida, sold under the trade name of Senetti. The Pericallis is a member of the Aster (daisy) family and I love the bright colours.
But back to the insect.
A closer look
Having looked online, I am wondering if it is a “true fly” and if it might be a member of the Bibio genus. The St Mark’s fly Bibio marci is supposed to be on the wing around St Mark’s Day, April 25, which is only a fortnight away – and Spring comes earlier these days.
That fly again…
…I love its shadow in this shot
A wider view, showing the size of the flower – and the insect
To my naked eye the insect seemed almost a metallic blue-black, but in the photo it has come out with a slightly red-brown tinge, especially around the wonderful compound eyes.
This may be just a trick of the light, as I know these bright Pericallis flowers caused problems with my earlier compact camera, which had great trouble capturing the purple variety I had in 2010…
Purple Pericallis Senetti with water in its eye, May 2010
So, can anyone identify the insect for me?
The Squirrelbasket 
Beautiful velvety flower. I love the color. It is an eye catcher on anyone’s patio. I’m not so sure about the animal with the wings…..could it be a very small wild bee gathering the pollen? I don’t recognize it as a fly.
Didn’t look like a bee to me, by its movements and the shape of its abdomen…
But it certainly had pollen on its legs!
Thanks for the kind comments 🙂
You could try putting the photo and description on ispot: ispotnature.org
Thanks for the suggestion!
or send to your local environmental record centre: SEWBReC
I know, and you have told me so many times before! Sorry I am still taking the lazy way out!
All the best 🙂
I am not an expert on insects, but I studied them briefly in my early years, with hopes to become an entomologist.
Many flies mimic bees with their appearance and behavior. Your specimen has its wings folded to its body like a bee, but bees have two sets of wings. It appears that your photos show only one set, like a fly would have.
Yours also has miniscule antennae which is a characteristic of flies, but usually not bees.
Flies eyes are, in most cases, large and to the side of the head, like yours, whereas bees are front-facing and smaller.
As for the pollen on the legs, many flies collect pollen as they feed on nectar and pollen, but some bees (females) are equipped with a means to carry large quantities of pollen on their legs.
Also the flattened shape of the abdomen suggests a fly.
That is about as far as I can go with it. I know you were hoping for species or at least a genus, but that is a little beyond my abilities.
Thank you ever so much for your detailed analysis. Some of those points were the sort of things I thought myself, as there is a lot un-beelike about the insect. But I am an absolute beginner apart from the commonest of species!
All the best 🙂
If you can see how many wings an insect is, you can tell a fly by the fact it has 2 wings. It is in the group Diptera–which means two-winged. This one looks like it has two wings, though it would be easier to see in the actual insect. (Most insects, including bees, have 4 wings.) If it hovers like a helicopter when it flies, it is a hover fly, a syrphid fly, whose larvae eat insects. Flies may use pollen as part of their life cycle nutritional needs, and thereby may be pollinators.
Thank you for the helpful hints. And I think you are right, it does seem to have just two wings.
I must do some more research to see if I can pin down the species.
Best wishes 🙂