After devouring all the aphids, the larvae have dispersed from their feeding site to pupate. This is the final stage before adult emergence. Not much to do now but patiently wait.

Below is a small individual which in the next week will eclose as an adult hoverfly!

Awesome stuff! We've also recently put out some work on urban spaces for pollinators, showing plantings with non-native ornamental flowers and natives attracted higher pollinator diversity than natives alone. Hoverflies appear to be true generalists it seems

Slowly but surely my hover babies are hatching... Let the aphid devouring begin!

Episyrphus larvae can hunt up to 1000 aphids each to provide nutrients vital for growth and pupal development.

See the video below of a successful hunt! 🐛🌐

Now we can see eggs laid over the denser areas of aphid blooms it’s time to wait several days for them to hatch into larvae 🐣 that will be hungry for our little green friends 🐛

Inside the small oval shaped eggs, critical developmental phases are occurring so it’s best to leave them to it.

With several fecund female Episyrphus balteatus hoverflies now on our coriander, we might see some egg laying over the next few days - given these flies are happy with the aphids!

The warm indoor temperature and presence of aphids should provide sufficient cues to signal oviposition (egg laying).

I’ve been trying to look in to this in our flies recently. Any tips on how discern the spermathecae from other reproductive organs and what the sperm actually look like would be ace.

Here is the press release: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...

& full paper: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....

& my favourite quote: “The reasons for this [sex difference] are unclear, but it’s possible that males prioritise fighting and mating, leaving little energy left for migration.”