Bush Gadfly
I found this roughly 3 cm long insect on the garage wall on 16 December 2021. The Faceboook Invertebrate ID group IDed it for me.
Scaptia adrel has large, iridescent, reflective eyes and a prominent proboscis. There are two distinctive patches of white hairs on each side of its thorax just behind the wings and one white patch on the upper abdomen.
Scaptia adrel is an important pollinator of native plants and native trees.as the adults feed on nectar, especially from the flowers of Kunzea ericoides (Kanuka) and Leptospermum scoparium (Manuka).
