ヤツデの花とツマグロキンバエ

昨日訪れた河畔にヤツデの花が咲いていました。ヤツデは秋遅くに花を咲かせて、この時期に生き残っている或いは冬越しする昆虫たちに貴重な蜜を提供します。チョウは訪れていませんでしたが、アブやハエの類が多く飛び交い、まだ活動していることに驚きました。その中でも多かったのがツマグロキンバエです。例のシマシマの目を持ち、体や翅をメタリックに輝かせながら盛んに蜜を探していました。夏の頃は近づくとすぐに逃げましたが、花序を手で持っても、逃げ出すことはありません。この時期には生き残る糧を得ることの方が大切なのでしょう。

The riverside area where I visited yesterday, I found some Yatsude, Japanese fatsia flowers (Fatsia japonica) in bloom. They bloom late in autumn and provide valuable nectar for the insects that survive and try to pass the winter. I saw no butterflies visiting, but there were a lot of flies and horseflies flying around, and quite surprisingly they were still active at this time of year. One of the most common was Tsumagurokinbae (Stomorhina obsoleta), a kind of blowfly. They had the usual striped eyes, and their bodies and wings shone with metallic colors. In summer, they would fly away as soon as you approached them, but yesterday, as I picked up the  inflorescence as I took pictures, they would not run away. At this time of the year it must be more important to get food to survive.

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Photo 2021-12-5