Pond Life

This morning was all about the Pond Life in my back garden, with a Marmalade Hoverfly feeding on the Lily flowers, whilst several male Semaphore flies (Poecilobothrus nobilitatus) were dancing around on the pads.

A Marmalade Hoverfly above a Lily

Even at 1/1600 sec the shutter was too slow to freeze the wing-beats

The side-profile of a male Poecilobothrus nobilitatus. This fly was one of the species in the Name a Species 2012 competition and won the lovely English name of Semaphore fly.

And from behind showing the white band across the wing-tips. Clusters of males may dance around single females, which lack the white wing marks.

And here the male shows that the white band is actually two white patches on each wing-tip which he uses to signal to females as part of his courtship display.

A schematic illustration of signal display showing a. Lightening of the rapidly moved wing tip and (b) increase of signal contrast through white wing tips and through (c) white wing tips with black zones on the apex.  (Courtesy of Behavioural Ecology, Oxford Journals)