Rat-tailed Maggot

Some of us with a few cattle hanging around keep a garbage bin - or whatever -with a ready supply of liquid manure, if you're a gardener, that is!

Many years ago, I found strange things living in my 'private bin'! I took a specimen into what was then the Department of Agriculture who were unable to identify the creature. It was passed around and nobody knew what the heck it was.

Around July this year, I accidentally stumbled upon it whilst searching another Diptera species. This year, I elected to carefully monitor my liquid manure vats! Voila - we have a touchdown!

The Rat-tailed Maggot is the larva of the Drone fly which is an important pollinator. The adults are nectar feeders.

Drone flies are about the size of a honey bee. They are extremely hard to photograph as they are rapid fliers, changing direction quickly. They hover but then zap off at right angles.

Drone flies seek out highly nitrogenous waste to breed. That can range from septic tanks to liquid manure receptacles.

(Click images to enlarge)

On this photo in particular you can see the snorkel-like breathing tube attached to the end of the "rat-tail". These 2 shots were taken in liquid manure.


Larvae can be as long as 2cm, the tails up to 4cm. They feed on decaying organic material or rich nitrongenous waste.




DIPTERA
Family: Syrphidae
Eristalis tenax

A Sign Of The Times?

Winter was the time I could safely put away all weapons of mass destruction where flies, particularly blowflies, were concerned. Not so this year!

I hate these little mongrels with a passion and had to execute one who managed to bulldoze its way inside this morning.

I will point the finger at my neighbour who allowed the decomposing bodies of three sheep, probably victims of bad weather a few weeks ago, to lie in state for a week near our boundary fence!



This is probably Calliphora stygia - Common Brown Blowfly.

Anyone else having fly problems in the middle of winter?

Bee Flies

Diptera - Bombyliidae
(As usual, the "disclaimer" is relevant!!)

I photographed these on the 29th February. The larger one was about the size of a bee.

Bee flies are believed to be helpful pollinators and the larvae of many bee flies are alleged to parasitise the eggs or larvae of other insects, possibly those of grasshoppers and locusts.

Probably male and female in this shot.

Bombyliidae have a distinctive veining in the wing. I have another shot that shows this, but it might not reproduce very well after severe cropping.

The plant the bee flies are feeding on is Tanacetum parthenium (Feverfew) a member of the Asteraceae family. Parsley in the background!