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Some views on the village of Malvaglia |
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A small patch of unused land, except for stacked firewood. Many of the photographs below were taken in this flowery grassland. |
Wasps & Bees |
| Anthidium scapulare |
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| Visiting Centaurea spec. 19 July 2007. |
| Anthidium spec. |
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| Visiting Sedum spec. On stone wall bordering small road. 14 July 2007. |
| Anthidium oblongatum |
| Authority | : | (Illiger, 1806) |
| Nederlands | : | Tweelobbige wolbij |
| Deutsch | : | Felsspalten-Wollbiene |
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| Visiting Lotus corniculatus growing on edge of vine yard. 19 July 2007. | |
| Osmia niveata |
| Authority | : | (Fabricius, 1804) |
| Nederlands | : | Zwartbronzen houtmetselbij |
| English | : | Jersey mason bee |
| Deutsch | : | Einhöckrige Mauerbiene |
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| Visiting Centaurea spec. 15 - 22 July 2007. | ||
| Ceratina cucurbitina |
| Authority | : | (Rossi, 1792) |
| Deutsch | : | Schwarze Keulhornbiene |
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| Visiting Centaurea spec. 19 July 2007 |
| Stelis punctulatissima |
| Authority | : | (Kirby, 1802) |
| Nederlands | : | Geelgerande tubebij |
| English | : | Banded dark bee |
| Deutsch | : | Punktierte Düsterbiene |
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| Visiting Aster spec. 15 July 2007 |
| Halictus sexcinctus |
| Authority | : | (Fabricius, 1775) |
| Nederlands | : | Zesbandgroefbij |
| Deutsch | : | Sechsbindige Furchenbiene |
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| Visiting Centaurea spec. 23 July 2007 |
| Xylocopa violacea |
| Authority | : | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| Nederlands | : | Blauwzwarte houtbij |
| English | : | Violet carpenter bee |
| Deutsch | : | Blauschwarze Holzbiene |
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| 14 July 2007 |
| Misumena vatia |
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| Victim of Misumena vatia hiding in Evening Primrose. 19 July 2007. |
| Rhynocoris spec. |
| Nederlands | : | Honingbij |
| English | : | Western honey bee |
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| Preyed upon by Assassin Bug. 20 July 2007. |
| Gasteruption cf. jaculator |
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| Parasitic wasp of the family Gasteruptiidae. The flying insect is a Symphytan wasp. |
| Scolia hirta |
| Authority | : | (Schrank, 1781) |
| Deutsch | : | Rauhe Dolchwespe |
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| 19 July 2007. | ||
Flies |
| Anthrax anthrax |
| Nederlands | : | Muurrouwzwever |
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| Hovering in front of a hole in dry wood, inspecting whether this is the nest hole of a host species. |
| Anthrax trifasciatus |
| Nederlands | : | Drievlekrouwzwever |
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| This bee-fly flew around stacked firewood, which might harbour nest holes of a host species. 15 July 2007. |
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| 19 July 2007. | |
The stacked firewood was heavily infested with woodboring insects. These produced lots of wood frass, visible as the fine wood-dust accumulated on the bark in the top photograph. The bee-fly was tapping the tip of her abdomen into the frass, a behaviour similar to that of other beeflies - but normally the material is sand, not wood frass! The functional significance of this behavior is obscure, of course, but might it be to camouflage the odour of the eggs to be oviposited in the nest of the host?? |
| Hemipenthes morio |
| Nederlands | : | Duinrouwzwever |
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| Negrentino; 16 July 2007. |
Another bee-fly, Hemipenthes morio, resting on a track in the forest on a mountain slope. The bee-fly exhibited typical perching behavior: flying from its rest to inspect moving objects, but returning time and again to the center of its territory. |
| Machimus spec. |
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| 23 July 2007. | ||
Female Robberfly with prey, a Sarcophagid fly. Sarcophagids are viviparous - that is, they do not lay eggs but give live birth to larvae that developed inside the female's body. Normally the control of birth must be tightly regulated, but here the prey fly must have lost control over the muscles regulating birth, undoubtedly because she was being sucked dry by the robberfly. Technically, one might describe this as predation-induced abortus provocatus... |
| Machimus spec. |
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| 15 July 2007. Female Robberfly, Machimus spec., ovipositing in flowerhead of Centaurea spec. |
| Cylindromyia bicolor |
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| 19 July 2007. | ||
| Ectophasia crassipennis |
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| 15 July 2007. | |
| Gymnosoma dolycoridis |
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| 15 July 2007. | |
This fly showed clearly perching behavior. It was sitting on grass stems that were quite high, about in the middle. Regularly it flew away, but after such 'inspection flights' (?), it predictably returned to the same spot - albeit not always exactly to the same grass stem or leaf. |
| Phania spec. |
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| 15 July 2007. |
| Eristalinus spec. |
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| 14 July 2007. |
Miscellaneous |
| Coenonympha pamphilus |
| Authority | : | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| Nederlands | : | hooibeestje |
| English | : | Small Heath |
| Deutsch | : | Kleines Wiesenvögelchen |
| Norsk | : | Engringvinge |
| Svenska | : | Kamgräsfjäril |
| Français | : | Fadet commun |
| Español | : | ocelada común |
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| The Small Heath. 23 July 2007. |
| Melitaea phoebe |
| Authority | : | ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) |
| English | : | Knapweed Fritillary |
| Deutsch | : | Flockenblumen-Scheckenfalter |
| Français | : | Mélitée des centaurées |
| Español | : | doncella mayor |
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| Though the butterfly is unaware of the danger, it is sieged by a crab spider! 16 July 2007. |
| Thyris fenestrella |
| Nederlands | : | bosrankvlinder |
| Deutsch | : | Waldreben-Fensterfleckchen |
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| The large white scales are really exceptional - for any butterfly or moth. 15 July 2007. |
| Trichodes spec. |
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| This beetle's vernacular name is 'the beewolf' - its larvae feed on bee larvae. 15 July 2007. |
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Chlorophorus glabromaculatus |
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| 16 July 2007. |
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Chlorophorus figuratus |
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| 16 July 2007. |