Sarah West

A recent post on iSpot got me doing a bit of research on hoverflies. They are mimics of bees and wasps; they pretend to look like them to protect themselves from would-be predators. They are completely harmless and fascinating creatures.

I came across this very informative webpage called "All About Hoverflies". The website has lots of photos of hoverflies, and some nice comparison photos with wasps and bees, so you can learn to tell the difference.

The webpage also tells you how to tell the sex of a hoverfly by how far apart it's eyes are, with female eyes being far apart so they don't touch, and male eyes being much closer together so that they touch. We saw lots of hoverflies at the weekend, Chris managed to get a photo of one in flight, I think it is the Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).

So, from the info above, can you tell me if it is a male or a female?