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Sticker of Blotch-winged hoverfly
Bug card No. 0518 of 4,939

Blotch-winged hoverfly

Leucozona lucorum

The blotch-winged hoverfly has a yellow-green back with long reddish hairs and a black, hairy tummy with pale patches. Each wing has a brown spot on it. Like other hoverflies, it can hang still in the air like a tiny helicopter.

Lives in
Europe, Asia and North America, at forest edges and in mountain meadows
Top speed
about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It may look a bit like a bee, but it cannot sting or bite.
What does it eat?
The grown-ups visit flowers such as dandelions, brambles and thistles. Its larvae eat aphids on low plants.
For real!Photo of Blotch-winged hoverfly
Picture by Sandy Rae. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The brown spot on each wing gave it its name.

2

Its wings are only about 1 centimetre long.

3

Its larvae eat aphids, the little bugs that suck juice from plants.

4

It flies from May to August, and most of all in June.

5

It lives from Ireland and Spain all the way to Japan, and in North America from Alaska to New York.

you asked

Most asked questions about Blotch-winged hoverfly

?Can a blotch-winged hoverfly sting?

No. Hoverflies have no stinger, so it is completely harmless.

?What does a blotch-winged hoverfly eat?

The adults visit flowers, and the larvae eat aphids.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Leucozona lucorum
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Syrphidae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Leucozona lucorum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. 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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More from the same group: Flies and mosquitoes

Also at home here: Forests and woods

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