Downland villa bee fly (Villa cingulata) a Red data book species rubbing the tip of her abdomen in loose soil to fill her sand chamber and coat eggs.

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Downland villa bee fly (Villa cingulata) a Red data book species rubbing the tip of her abdomen in loose soil by a rabbit burrow to fill her sand chamber, where eggs are coated in sand, chalk grassland slope, near Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, UK, June.

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Size: 4346px × 2897px
Location: Wiltshire, UK
Photo credit: © Nick Upton / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: adult, banded, bee, beeflies, beefly, black, bombyliidae, british, chalk, chamber, cingulata, colourful, diptera, downland, earth, england, female, filling, flies, fly, furry, grassland, hairy, insects, invertebrates, kingdom, meadows, nest, orange, parasites, rare, rubbing, sand, scarce, single, summer, uk, united, villa, wildlife, wings, yellow