Superb ant-hill hoverfly
The superb ant-hill hoverfly is a black fly with bright yellow stripes and spots. It may look a bit like a wasp, but it is a harmless fly. Its babies grow up underground, inside ant nests.
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Fun facts
Its larvae have been found underground in the nests of black garden ants and yellow meadow ants.
In the ant nest, the larvae probably eat tiny root aphids that the ants keep and look after.
You can see the grown-ups from May to September, most of all at the end of June.
It is quite rare, so spotting one is a lucky find.
Most asked questions about Superb ant-hill hoverfly
?Is the superb ant-hill hoverfly a wasp?
No. It is a fly with black and yellow colours, and it cannot sting.
?How big is the superb ant-hill hoverfly?
It is about 1 to 1.3 cm long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Xanthogramma pedissequum
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Philhelius pedissequus (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 Alvesgaspar. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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