Cwmfelin Park - Banded General [Stratiomys potamida]

Cwmfelin Park was alive with all types of fly families today, but the one that stole the show was the large bright and yellow - Banded General. This species is one of the so called "big 5" of the Soldierfly family. With a very good key available to download from the Diptera Forum one can easily discount the other 4 species, although 2 of them don't occur in Mid and South Wales.

The features needed to identify this as a Banded General :-

1]     Scutellum with 2 spines.
2]     Thoracic Dorsum black with short grey hairs [rules out Long-horned General].
3]     Antennae without arista and tapered, antennae longer than head [rules out Ornate Brigadier].
4]     Sternites [underbody] with yellow bands connected [rules out Flecked General].
5]     Yellow spots on T4 connected forming a band, female [above] has T3 yellow band also.
                                                       [rules out Clubbed General].

NB*   -    Clubbed General and Long-horned General has not been recorded in Mid and South Wales.