Common thick-leg fly
Tropidia quadrata
The common thick-leg fly is a hoverfly from North America. Hoverflies can hang almost still in the air, like a tiny helicopter. You often find it sitting on flowers.
Lives in
The northern United States and southern Canada, on flowers
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Hoverflies have no sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-ups drink sweet nectar for energy and eat pollen from flowers. The babies live in the water.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Common thick-leg fly about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Hoverflies are also called flower flies, because they spend so much time on flowers.
2
Nectar gives it energy, and pollen gives it protein to grow strong.
3
Its babies grow up in water, not on land.
you asked
Most asked questions about Common thick-leg fly
?Can a hoverfly sting?
No. Hoverflies have no sting and are harmless.
?What does a hoverfly eat?
The grown-ups drink nectar and eat pollen from flowers.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tropidia quadrata
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- Common thickleg fly
Where the facts come from
- Tropidia quadrata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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