Western calligrapher
Toxomerus occidentalis
The western calligrapher is a little hover fly from western North America. Hover flies are also called flower flies, because you often see them hanging still in the air next to flowers. It is a common and helpful garden visitor.
Lives in
Western North America, from British Columbia down to California, Colorado and Texas
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Hover flies cannot bite or sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-ups drink nectar and eat pollen from flowers. Its larvae hunt tiny plant pests called aphids, and mites too.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Western calligrapher about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It can hover in one spot in the air, like a tiny helicopter, before it lands on a flower.
2
Its larvae are hungry hunters of aphids, the small bugs that suck juice from plants.
3
It looks almost exactly like its cousin, the eastern calligrapher.
you asked
Most asked questions about Western calligrapher
?Is the western calligrapher a bee?
No. It is a hover fly. It does not sting, even though it visits flowers like a bee.
?What does the western calligrapher eat?
The grown-ups eat nectar and pollen. The larvae eat aphids and mites.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Toxomerus occidentalis
- Named by
- Curran, 1922
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Toxomerus occidentalis (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 Eugene Zelenko. 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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