The development of wing colouration in a newly emerged Dark-edged Bee-fly, Bombylius major
On the 17 March 2022 I observed a newly emerged Bee-fly in my Felixstowe garden. Initially I was somewhat confused as to its specific identification and having looked at various reference books I became even more so. I could not find any reference to a plain winged Bombylius species. I decided to watch the insect and over a period of time and I soon became aware that a pattern on the wing was emerging and it soon became obvious that it was beginning to resemble Bombylius major. Again I looked through my reference books and I could find no documented evidence of the fact that the wing colouration was gained in this species as the wings ‘dried out’ after emergence and judging by the comments I received on Facebook and Twitter many Entomologists did not realise this either. The whole process shown in the photographs overleaf took roughly two hours.
References
Stubbs, A. E. & Drake, M. (2014). British Soldierflies and their Allies. Second edition. BENHS. ISBN 978-1-899935-07-9.
Brock, P. D. (2021). Britain’s Insects. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-17927-8.
Paul Oldfield