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LinkedInPosts Tagged: bee fly
Why Flies Are Pollinators, Too!
Will all the pollinators please stand up! Or do a fly-by like the Blue Angels or a crawl-by like babies competing in a diaper derby. Bees--there are more than 4000 of them in North America--are the main pollinators, but don't overlook butterflies, beetles, birds, bats and moths. And...
A bee fly, genus Villa, collecting pollen on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee (left) and a syrphid fly, aka hover fly or flower fly, sharing a Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Bee Fly!
Have you ever seen a bee fly, a member of the family Bombylidae? It's about the size of some bees. It buzzes like a bee. But you can quickly tell it's not a bee by its behavior. It's a fast-moving, long-legged, fuzzylike critter that darts in and around flowers, grabbing nectar on the go, before...
Bee fly, a bombyliid, hovers like a helicopter. Note the long tongue. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) 2800 copy
Bee fly foraging for nectar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not Bees--They're Flies
There are "bees" and there are "flies."And then there are "bee flies."Bee flies? They're so named because they look somewhat like bees. Order: Diptera. Family: Bombyliidae.We spotted a single bee fly, as identified by UC Davis forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey, foraging on our sedum yesterday. Like...
Bee Fly
Large Body
Sip of Nectar
