Mottled thistle fly
Xyphosia miliaria
The mottled thistle fly is a small yellowish fly with big orange-red eyes. Its wings have pretty dark patterns on them. You can find it in meadows, parks and gardens wherever thistles grow.
Lives in
Most of Europe, Asia and the Near East, in wet meadows, parks and gardens with thistles
Length
5 to 8 mm (0.2 to 0.31 in)
Wingspan
1.5 to 1.8 cm (0.59 to 0.71 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-up flies drink nectar and eat pollen from many kinds of flowers. The larvae grow up inside thistle buds.
How big is it?
How long is it?
How wide are its wings?
💅small enough to sit on your fingernail⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 47 seconds⚡moves 280 times its own body length every second
How big is Mottled thistle fly compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
Mottled thistle fly about 8 km/h (5 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its babies grow up inside the buds of thistles.
2
The female has a pointed brown tube at the end of her body for laying eggs.
3
The male has a round body, but the female's is longer.
4
It flies from May to September.
you asked
Most asked questions about Mottled thistle fly
?What does the mottled thistle fly eat?
Adults feed on nectar and pollen. The larvae eat inside thistle buds.
?How big is the mottled thistle fly?
Its body is about 5 to 8 millimetres long, and its wings span 15 to 18 millimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Xyphosia miliaria
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Tephritidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Tephritidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Xyphosia miliaria (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 Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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