Soldier fly Sargus bipunctatus

Apparently named after the two white spots on it's face. These have just started appearing in the garden- fairly large soldier flies- about 15mm body length.
One oddity is that it seems to have coloured "pixels" in it's eye- the position of these was reproducible at different angles so don't think it was a trick of the light. You can just see them in #2 but #3 shows them more clearly

Brian V.

Click on Pics for larger size

IMAGE LINK: http://farm2.static.fl​ickr.com …05334013_d6fe88​4d36_o.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://farm2.static.fl​ickr.com …05334015_2c1942​3838_o.jpg

IMAGE LINK: http://farm2.static.fl​ickr.com …05334021_939507​6db6_o.jpg

Love the eyes in number three Brian, they look amazing. Great shots all round.

Alistair.

Nice shots, Brian. The eyes in #3 remind me of a Lite-Brite toy.

Great find Brian, nice detail/colour. are the white spots just markings or has it got a purpose for the soldier fly?

I wonder if these 'pixels' somehow help the fly distinguish colour or movement. Perhaps they are sensitized to a particular wavelength of light...

Nice shots Brian.

great gold colors on this little guy

Very interesting info and pics Brian! Thanks for posting this.

dreamline wrote in post #3969146
I wonder if these 'pixels' somehow help the fly distinguish colour or movement. Perhaps they are sensitized to a particular wavelength of light...

Nice shots Brian.

Insects are more sensitive to ultraviolet light.

Hi Brian love the first shot and the pixels on the eye in # 3 neat
Pete

Thanks for the interest everybody

Craig - don't know about the white spots - might help just ID the species as there is another similar but smaller soldier fly around at the moment.
I've never seen these "colour pixels" scattered around a compound eye before- nit sure if they have any optical significance or not.

Brian V.