I found this female picture-winged fly lurking on a sycamore above a patch of creeping thistle yesterday, so by dint of association and the pattern on the wings I'm guessing that it might be Urophora cardui, which lays its eggs in creeping thistle flower heads.
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Lovely pics despite that vicious looking ovipositor :-))
ReplyDeleteHi Mel, there's a very useful book in the Naturalists' Handbook series called Insects and Thistles that describes the life cycle of this fly
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