Isn't it funny how a comma likes honey?

[Padfield]

Some beehives in the woods, this afternoon:


Smells good down there...


Maybe not go too close...


They don't seem to mind me!


Mmm... Even better on the inside!


I shot this bit of video about 20 minutes later, at a neighbouring hive (same comma):

http://www.guypadfield.com/movies/commabee092.wmv

Guy

EDIT: If anyone can identify that white-eyed dipterid I'd be interested to know what it is. I've seen them before.

[geniculata]

hi guy,

nice little video, something ive never witnessed before.

the fly looks like tachina fera and is a caterpiller parasite, but i couldn't quite see it defined enough so wouldn't swear to it.

gary.

[Dave McCormick]

I have never witnessed that before either, nice video Guy. Makes me want to check the bee hives in forest here, two of them and red admirals in area, wonder if they'd do the same. If I see any in area, got to find out.

[Padfield]

Thanks, both.

I'm ready to believe Tachina fera, but pictures in my book and on the web don't convince me. This fly had conspicuously white eyes. Here are a couple of details from the video. Unfortunately, my present video camera doesn't take very high res frames.




Guy

[Piers]

Looks like a muscid of the genus Mesembrina, possibly M. meridiana which does have white 'cheeks'.

Felix.

[Padfield]

Thanks. Looking at pictures on http://www.diptera.info I do think it looks closer in overall structure and colouring to a Muscid (and Mesembrina in particular) rather than a Tachinid. I'll try and get a better picture just of one of these flies some time.

What a lot of Diptera there are!! It's taken me about half an hour just to look through the photos of those two families!!

Guy

[geniculata]

hi guy,

think your on the right track there, but you say that the eyes are white not the cheeks?

great little web site you found there, thanks for the link, it will no doubt be of good use in the future.

cheers gary.

[Padfield]

It might be the cheeks. To be honest, I didn't really see the fly at the time because I was looking at the LCD screen and trying to keep still while bees were buzzing around my head and even settling on my hair!

Guy