Hover Fly from UK

Subject:  Wasp
Geographic location of the bug:  Paignton , Devon
Date: 08/23/2021
Time: 07:49 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Cannot identify what it is
How you want your letter signed:  Eric newnham

Hover Fly

Dear Eric,
This is not a wasp.  It is a True Fly, more specifically a Hover Fly or Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae.  We have identified it as Volucella zonaria on Nature Spot where it states:  “This is a hornet mimic and is one of our largest and most spectacular hoverflies which can be recognised by its yellow and black banded abdomen” and “This species became established in Britain in the 1940s and until recently it had very much a southerly distribution with most records coming from south of a line from the Severn Estuary to The Wash, however it seems to be expanding its range and is now quite frequently recorded further north.”  It is also pictured on British Naturalists’ Association.

 

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