i_heart_bugs

Lulworth Skipper (Thymelicus acteon).


Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris).


Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus).

Macroglossum stellatarum.

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Rhagonycha fulva. Sometimes known in the UK as the "hogweed bonking beetle", because pairs are frequently seen mating on Common Hogweed flowers.

Hogweed hoverfly heaven... Mostly Episyrphus balteatus.

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Gold-fringed Mason Bee Osmia (helicosmia) aurulenta, which nests in snails' shells.

A video from youTube of a female camouflaging her nest:

I thought at first yesterday that my pot of scabious had attracted a hornet. But then I looked more closely, and thought, er, hang on...


Volucella zonaria, the Hornet Mimic hoverfly - a great golden insect that does not, on closer inspection, really look much like a hornet.

In imperfect Batesian mimicry, the mimics do not exactly resemble their models. Many reasons have been suggested for this. Imperfect mimics may simply be evolving towards perfection. They may gain advantage from resembling multiple models at once. Humans may evaluate mimics differently from actual predators. Mimics may confuse predators by resembling both model and nonmimic at the same time (satiric mimicry). Kin selection may enforce poor mimicry. The selective advantage of better mimicry may not outweigh the advantages of other strategies like thermoregulation or camouflage. Only certain traits may be required to deceive predators...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batesian_mimicry#Imperfect_Batesian_mimicry

The larva of the Hornet hoverfly can live happily in the nests of social wasps without getting stung! The hoverfly larva eats the debris and rubbish in the wasp nest and in return the wasps have a free cleaner...

This spectacular hoverfly first colonised Britain in the early 1940s, and was once regarded as rare. Since then it has become well established in London, the South and South East of England. As the climate warms the fly is heading north and has now been recorded in Cheshire.

https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs-and-habitats/hornet-hoverfly

Lycaena phlaeas.

Episyrphus balteatus.