CLOSED: I think this is Helophilus trivittatus .

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 11, 2007

I found this one on a waste land full of wild vegetation and flowers.
I was first thought it was Helophilus pendulus but
H.trivittatus is a closer match.



http://www.blackstein.de/tagebuch/2002/august2002/schwebfliege-1756a.jpg

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 11, 2007

sec.pict.

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 11, 2007

and a last;

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wallaby1 Lincoln, United Kingdom(Zone 8a) Sep 11, 2007

It looks correct to me, this is mine and I have called mine that.

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bonitin Gent, Belgium(Zone 8a) Sep 11, 2007

Thanks, wallaby!

Yours and mine look so similar apart from the abdomen
that looks more elongated and narrower to the rear end in yours than that of mine that looks more rounder.
Also the white curved band on the third section of the abdomen looks more curved in yours than on mine.
Perhaps the British version is a little different from the Belgian ? But I also noticed this minor difference in the pictures I found on the web. Perhaps it is a crossing of the H. pendulus and the H.trivittatus ?
Perhaps a H. pendulus got confused with a H. trivittatus and mine is the result of that ? :o}

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wallaby1 Lincoln, United Kingdom(Zone 8a) Sep 11, 2007

I think you will find the difference is mine is a male, yours a female, take a look at the diptera.info site. The eyes are usually a good thing to go by, but they are not always wide apart (female) and close together (male), it's difficult to tell also from behind as there is a 'button' at the back making the eyes appear wider apart. When there is little diference to be seen in distance between the eyes, the female has smaller eyes in general than the male. The tail ends usually differ slightly too.

There are species crosses within the same Genus of some insects, I have seen that with dragonflies, but in your case it's a female.

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