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  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 8, 2026, 7:15 PM

    Sometimes I think my garden arthropods are taking the piss 🙄

    I chased this big tachnid fly around for ages, trying to get a clear shot. Then it landed on my calf & started drinking the sweat – not easy to photograph 😬

    It's a male black & orange parasite fly (Nowickia ferox; 🇩🇪 Große Borsten-Raupenfliege).

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    A large tachnid fly seen from the side, behind, and above, on some lightly freckled pink skin with light hairs. The fly has a grey face with black antennae and dark brick red compound eyes. The thorax is black and hairy, while the abdomen has a strong black and orange pattern, with strong black bristles near the end. The legs are black and bristly, while the wings are clear at the end, turning orange towards the roots.
    The same large fly seen from behind and above, showing the abdomen more clearly – as well as the strong black bristles, there are many smaller black hairs. The wings are also seen more clearly.
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Replies

  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 8, 2026, 7:21 PM

    Also out there today, many grasshoppers well camouflaged & jumping around in the parched landscape.

    Here's one that found some greenery though – it's a rufous grasshopper (Gomphocerippus rufus; 🇩🇪 Rote Keulenschrecke), easily identified from the flattened club-like tips to the antennae.

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    A medium-size grasshopper seen from above and the side, sitting in the sunshine among some ivy leaves. The grasshopper is various shades of brown, with a redder abdomen, and a grey-brown pattern around its eyes and head. The antennae are light brown, turning black, flattened, and club-like at the end, with white tips.
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  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 8, 2026, 7:27 PM

    Another grasshopper, this time on some rosemary.

    This one's harder to ID – genus Chorthippus, Eurasian field grasshoppers, but it's very hard to distinguish between C. brunneus, C. biguttulus, & C. mollis without a clear view of the wings ... or decoding their chirps 🦗🎶

    Neither was possible in this situation 🤷‍♂️

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    A larger grasshopper seen side on, hanging vertically onto the tope leaves of a rosemary stalk. The grasshopper is in varying shades of brown, and has segmented orange brown antennae that are the same width along their whole length.
    💬 1🔄 3⭐ 0
  • Mark McCaughreanmarkmccaughrean@mastodon.social
    Aug 8, 2026, 7:39 PM

    Finally today, a nice little (& I mean little) discovery with very pretty wing & body markings.

    I believe that this is a lesser golden knapweed fly (Chaetorellia jaceae). In German it's the ... take a deep breath ... Kleine Wiesenflockenblumen-Bohrfliege.

    Lacking the long ovipositor of the female, it's a male.

    #Heidelberg 🏰
    #Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
    #BugOfTheDay 🐞
    #MacroPhotography 🔬
    #InsectsOfMastodon 🪰
    #BackGardenEntomology 🪲

    A small fly sitting on the edge of a pink sweetpea flower, seen from behind and slightly from the side. The fly is predominantly yellow, with a regular pattern of black spots along the thorax and abdomen. There are strong black bristles on the thorax as well. The legs and head are also yellow, the latter with large green compound eyes. The wings are strongly patterned with interlocking brown and white patches, separated by a fine black line.
    The same fly seen over the edge of the flower, showing one of its wings clearly with its strong pattern.
    Another view of the fly, this time from the front, with it looking towards the camera. The metallic green eyes are seen clearly, along with the strong black bristles along the thorax.
    Another view of the fly from the side and behind, showing the same features from a slightly different perspective.
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  • Solar🌄Gardenwavesculptor@climatejustice.social
    Aug 8, 2026, 7:56 PM

    @markmccaughrean Its mate the horsefly got me on the leg, through trousers this morning in the polytunnel... even while I was waiting for it, with both camera and sprayer; missed it with both. But I got some butterflies, about to post.

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