Stripe-winged drone fly
The stripe-winged drone fly is a medium-sized hoverfly with dark, cloudy patches on its wings. Its pale face has a wide black stripe down the middle. It loves wet places and visits lots of flowers to drink nectar.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Each of its wings is about 8 to 11 millimetres long.
The dark clouds on the wings are bigger on the girls than on the boys.
Its larvae grow up in water, so the fly is found near pools, streams, bogs and rivers.
It flies from May to September.
Scientists argued for years about its scientific name, until in 2004 they asked the official name experts to keep the old one.
Most asked questions about Stripe-winged drone fly
?Can the stripe-winged drone fly sting?
No. It is a hoverfly, and flies have no sting.
?What does the stripe-winged drone fly eat?
Nectar and pollen from many flowers, like bramble, raspberry and heather.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eristalis horticola
- Named by
- De Geer, 1776
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Eristalis horticola (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 Sandy Rae. 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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