DIPTERA > BRACHYCERA | Higher Diptera 

MUSCOMORPHA > ASCHIZA >  Syrphoidea > Syrphidae (283 species)

(subfamilies: Syrphinae with 3 tribes, Eristalinae with 10 tribes and Microdontinae with just 4 rare species)

 

You only have to take a quick look at the thumbnail images below to see why hoverflies are so popular. And, I have to note, that those species only represent around 25% of the total number that have been recorded. Obviously, many are rare, nationally scarce or can only be found in certain parts of the country, but there must be a good 200 or so that could be seen if you concentrated on the family.

  

There are a couple of factors that make them so appealing: firstly, they are a very varied and interesting group of flies with many attractive species; they can be readily seen visiting flowers for pollen and nectar during the summer months, and are relatively easy to photograph; and, most importantly, they are well-documented and are one of the few insect groups where individuals are generally identifiable from photos, at least to genus level.

 

Given the fact that they are so well described means that, unlike most of the other fly families I've covered, there's no need to include general characteristics or identifying features for each species. My personal favourite field guide is 'Britain's Hoverflies' by Stuart Ball and Roger Morris, which I use in conjunction with checking identifications on the associated FB Group. In fact, many of my featured photos have been looked at by Roger Morris himself to verify or confirm the species.

 

I've used the same classification and taxonomic order that's used in the book. The structure is a bit different because the two main subfamilies, Syrphinae and Eristalinae, are broken down into tribes. Whereas the other fly groups are represented on this site by 'family accounts', the Syrphidae hoverfly family is broken down here into a number of separate accounts based on the tribe, and then with some of the larger tribes split further into manageable groups of related species. As always, clicking any of the thumbnail images will take you to a page for that particular species. There's little point cribbing loads of information from the book, so the notes are brief and are mainly there for personal reference in respect of the featured species that I've photographed.

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And, just as a final note, it's interesting to see that despite their general popularity, most hoverfly species do not have recognised common names. One well-known author has tried to put a name to each species, but they haven't really caught on, so I've only mentioned the ones that may be encountered during an internet search, such as the common Marmalade Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus, and the Eristalis droneflies.