CLOSED: Some sort of fly? bee?

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sunnyg San Francisco Bay Ar, CA(Zone 9b) Jul 18, 2008

I’ve never seen one of these before, but it seemed to be a big fan of this lemon blossom. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

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sunnyg San Francisco Bay Ar, CA(Zone 9b) Jul 18, 2008

another shot

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sunnyg San Francisco Bay Ar, CA(Zone 9b) Jul 18, 2008

one more angle

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Jul 18, 2008

This is a hover/flower fly (Diptera: Syrphidae), easily identified as such by the so-called ‘spurious vein’ in its wing ( it is not that obvious in all species; see http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/insects/flies/syrphid/syrphid.htm). Larvae of many species are predaceous on small, soft-bodied arthropods such as aphids - see http://www.fotosearch.com/AGE053/x06-297037/
This is a very large family with many species that superficially resemble one another, see http://www.pbase.com/tmurray74/syrphid_flies_syrphidae for some examples.

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sunnyg San Francisco Bay Ar, CA(Zone 9b) Jul 19, 2008

Thanks for the ID suunto! I thought it was a really pretty insect, and if the larvae eat aphids that’s just an added bonus (they won’t go hungry around here ;-))

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