Marmalade Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus | ||||
Monks Eleigh Garden, Suffolk,
England
The Marmalade Hoverfly is very cosmopolitan
and is found throughout the world. Sometimes the numbers found in
Britain are increased with migrants from southern Europe. It feeds and pollinates a wide variety of flowers while its larvae feed on aphids. |
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In appearance it mimics a
wasp and this is defensive. However, its behaviour tends to
betray its real identity as it can hover quite still for several
seconds as seen in photo 2. Other features are the single pair of wings, unlike bees and wasps that have two pairs, and the vena spuria or dark vein-like structure in the middle of the wing that allows the wings to flex and the fly to hover. There is more information on Wikipedia. |
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