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Sticker of Large-tailed aphideater
Bug card No. 2543 of 4,939

Large-tailed aphideater

Eupeodes volucris
Eats: Nectar and pollenFlies and mosquitoesGardens and meadows6 legs

The large-tailed aphideater is a hover fly. It can stand still in the air over flowers, like a tiny helicopter. Its babies are hungry hunters that eat aphids, which makes gardeners very happy.

Lives in
North America, on flowers in gardens and meadows
Top speed
about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Hover flies cannot sting or bite.
What does it eat?
The adult flies visit flowers. The larvae hunt aphids and other small plant-sucking insects.
For real!Photo of Large-tailed aphideater
Picture by Jengod. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its name aphideater tells you exactly what its larvae eat: aphids.

2

Hover flies got their name because they hover over the plants they visit.

3

Its larvae help plants by eating insects that suck their sap.

you asked

Most asked questions about Large-tailed aphideater

?Is the large-tailed aphideater a bee?

No. It is a hover fly. It cannot sting.

?What does the large-tailed aphideater eat?

Its larvae eat aphids, and the adult flies visit flowers.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eupeodes volucris
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Syrphidae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Bird hover fly

Where the facts come from

  1. Eupeodes volucris (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Jengod. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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