Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hover fly

Hoverfly by andiwolfe
Hoverfly, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

I'm starting a summer project to discover the insects that inhabit my garden. This is a hover fly. It looks similar to a bee, and it does pollinate some plants, but it's definitely a fly. There is one set of primary wings and the nubs of remnant wings (the small yellow paddles just above the abdomen). The eyes are humongous and probably give this insect a 360° view of the world.

2 comments:

  1. Love this series. I'm learning a lot. Thank you for your curiosity and for sharing your knowledge.

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  2. Your picture is the best! Thanks for posting. I am pruning fire blight out of a pear tree and there are swarms of these. They have been around more in the past few days than I have ever seen them. I am not very thrilled to have them land on me-- 6-8 on each arm. I swear they bite even though from what I have read they do not. Any idea what the attraction is?

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