I've never seen this one before. And it was alone as far as I could observe, feeding on Heracleum flowers in a local Nature Reserve area..
I think the closest match I found was on the Diptera site:
http://diptera.info/photogallery.php?photo_id=3426
...
and a back-view;
It does look very close, but the section at the base of the thorax on yours is black where others I am seeing are creamy in colour.
http://www.galerie-insecte.org/galerie/html/INSECTA__Diptera__Syrphidae__eriozona__syrphoides.html
In your first pic it looks to have a narrow orange band at the top of the abdomen, not sure if it has. It does look like an Eriozona though, maybe one for the diptera experts.
This message was edited Aug 26, 2008 5:56 PM
Thanks! I'll might have to try to enter it into the Diptera site for a certain ID...
It is solved! I got the Id from a Diptera-specialist in a local Nature Forum. It is Cheilosia illustrata (female).
Thanks for pointing out the difference of the colour at the base of the thorax! I hadn't noticed it..
They can be tricky! I looked at that one one syrphidae.com site but their pic wasn't very good, it certainly looks correct now.
http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=Cheilosia%20illustrata&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
Very tricky indeed!
