Swivel Head

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missgecko
Posts: 252
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:59 am
Location: Australia

Swivel Head

Post by missgecko »

Found this cute little fly last night on our lounge (never ever thought I'd call a fly cute :shock: ). The first one is side on, the second from the top and the third - now..... if I'm not mistaken the fly has swivelled it's head around and what you see is the mouth. He moved his head around like one of those plastic dogs with the bobbing heads in cars. Can someone tell me please what sort of fly it is?

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Cheers
Sam

'To see a world in a grain of sand And heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour.' William Blake

AndrewC
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Location: Belgium
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Post by AndrewC »

It's a hoverfly or Syrphid.
Which exact species I don't know.

Yes - their heads are very wobbly !!!

One of the ways to identify Syrphids is by the veins in their wings - do a web search on Syrphid wing veins :)

Andrew
rgds, Andrew

"Is that an accurate dictionary ? Charlie Eppes

missgecko
Posts: 252
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:59 am
Location: Australia

Post by missgecko »

Thanks Andrew. I'm guessing then that hoverflies are the ones that you see hovering over flowers, and then dart away really quickly. So they're not really like a normal house fly.

Cheers :D
Sam

'To see a world in a grain of sand And heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour.' William Blake

AndrewC
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Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:05 am
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Post by AndrewC »

Those are they.

Are you buried in those Australian "red clouds" ?
rgds, Andrew

"Is that an accurate dictionary ? Charlie Eppes

Graham Stabler
Posts: 209
Joined: Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:22 am
Location: Swindon, UK

Post by Graham Stabler »

Wow the degree of rotation is really surprising.

Graham

Harold Gough
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Location: Reading, Berkshire, England

Post by Harold Gough »

I'm guessing that the head has a high degree of movement to enable it to keep still, in hovering flight, while the body makes minor adjustments for air currents. I should check that but I'm feeling lazy.

Harold
My images are a medium for sharing some of my experiences: they are not me.

missgecko
Posts: 252
Joined: Sat Jul 04, 2009 1:59 am
Location: Australia

Post by missgecko »

Yep, we had the red dust on Tuesday covering Canberra. It is really eerie and almost has an end of days feeling. Sydney really copped it though - it did it even bigger and better and the dust even made it all the way to New Zealand!!!! Apparently it's high in iron which could trigger red algae bloom in the water. I heard on the radio this morning that there could be more coming in a day or two.

Cheers
Sam

'To see a world in a grain of sand And heaven in a wild flower. Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour.' William Blake

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