Female striped horsefly (Tabanus lineola) by Thomas Shahan (From https://www.flickr.com/photos/opoterser/4915106328)

Dear Readers. as you will have learned earlier this week my latest passion is the world of flies, as represented so well by Erica McAlister in ‘The Secret World of Flies‘. This is an extremely diverse group, so let’s see how good we are at identifying them! I have gone for ‘popular’ flies because as McAlister points out, one in every ten species of animal is a fly, and many are very tricky to identify even for experts.

So, this is a simple match-the-name to the photo quiz, and as usual you have until 5 p.m. on Friday 11th February (UK time) to put your answers in the comments if you want to have a go. I will be announcing the results on Saturday 12th February.

So, if you think fly A is a Giant Cranefly, your answer is 1) A)

Onwards!

1. Giant Cranefly (Tipula maximus)
2. St Mark’s Fly (Bibio marci)
3. Golden Horsefly (Atylotus fulvus)
4. Banded General (Stratiomys potamida)
5. Dark-edged Beefly (Bombylius major)
6. Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)
7. Hornet Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria)
8. House Fly (Musca domestica)
9. Greenbottle  (Lucilia sericata)
10. Great Pied Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens)

A)

B)

C)

D)

E)

F)

G)

H)

I)

J)