Narcissi Flies

Hi All

Yesterday morning I was digging up my daffodils, when I heard this high pitched buzzing and very shortly afterwards two flies appeared on the daffodil foliage. My first instinct was to try and restrict their “take off”, but quickly decided to get the camera. After about twenty “nearly” attempts, a back ache, and half an hour later, I eventually managed to get a couple of pictures and during the course of the afternoon added a few more.

Could you please enlighten me as to which is the male and female. Am I right in assuming the male is the brighter coloured as in pict0070 and pict0078 with the darker head and orange rear, but I am not sure.

I count myself extremely lucky, as this is the first time in my 40 plus years showing daffs, I have ever seen a “live”

narcissi fly.

Look forward to your replies
Paul (Payne)

2 comments for “Narcissi Flies

  1. Hello Paul,

    great photos of the Narcissus Fly.

    From what I can gather the colour varies quite a lot between pale and more orange and is not gender specific. In the male the eyes are larger and meet above the mouth parts whereas in the female there is a furry gap between the eyes. They are otherwise of similar size and shape.
    Regards,
    Denise
  2. Hello Paul
      The males and females have different habits: the males flits about over the foliage emitting a high-pitched as they fly from one patch of sunlight to the next but the females do not emits the whine and lurk under the foliage laying eggs. A sure way to tell which gender you have squashed is the female has an ovipositor which protrudes from the tail. As has been said, the colour variation is no indicator of gender. I have examples in my collection of about 12 different colour combinations of both sexes.
    John Pearson

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