Long-tailed aphideater
The long-tailed aphideater is a hoverfly. It is black to shiny green with three yellow bands on its tummy, so it looks a bit like a small wasp. It has a pale yellow face and big black eyes.
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Fun facts
Its larvae eat aphids, so gardeners are happy to have them.
Scientists think the larvae could be used to fight aphids and scale insects on plants.
In autumn many of them travel from Canada all the way to the southeastern United States.
Its larva is pale yellow to salmon brown and about 11 millimetres long when fully grown.
Most asked questions about Long-tailed aphideater
?Is the long-tailed aphideater a bee or a wasp?
Neither. It is a hoverfly that only looks a bit like a wasp, and it cannot sting.
?What does it eat?
The adults drink nectar and the larvae eat aphids.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eupeodes americanus
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- North America
- Also known as
- American hoverfly
Where the facts come from
- Eupeodes americanus (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 Calibas. 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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