Drone fly
The drone fly is a hover fly that looks a lot like a honey bee, but it is really a fly. It is brown and black with orange-yellow marks and big marbled eyes. You can find it on flowers almost everywhere in the world.
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Fun facts
Its baby is called a rat-tailed maggot because it has a long breathing tube like a tail. The tube can be several times longer than its body, like a snorkel.
The pupa is grey-brown and still has its long tail, so it looks like a tiny mouse.
Males guard a flowerbed or bush, hovering in the air and chasing away other insects.
Males have huge eyes that almost touch. Females have smaller eyes that are further apart.
The black parts on its body soak up sunshine to help it warm up.
Most asked questions about Drone fly
?Can a drone fly sting?
No. It only looks like a bee. It is a fly and has no stinger.
?How can you tell a drone fly from a bee?
A drone fly has only two wings and no thin waist. A honey bee has four wings and a narrow waist.
?What is a rat-tailed maggot?
It is the baby of the drone fly. It lives in muddy water and breathes through a long tail-like tube.
Myth buster
Myth: The drone fly is a bee and can sting.
Truth: No. It only looks like a bee, which helps keep birds away. It is a fly and has no stinger.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eristalis tenax
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Common drone fly
Where the facts come from
- Eristalis tenax (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 Stoxastikos. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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