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Sticker of Orange-legged drone fly
Bug card No. 3151 of 4,939

Orange-legged drone fly

Eristalis flavipes
Eats: Nectar and pollenFlies and mosquitoesGardens and meadows6 legs

The orange-legged drone fly is a hoverfly that looks just like a fuzzy bumblebee. It has a coat of bright yellow hair on its chest and a shiny black tail end. Like all hoverflies, it can hang almost still in the air.

Lives in
North America, especially near wetlands
Length
1.3 to 1.7 cm (0.51 to 0.67 in)
Top speed
about 17 km/h (11 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It looks like a bee, but flies have no sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-up flies drink sweet nectar and eat pollen from flowers. The larvae live in water and filter tiny bits of food out of it.
For real!Photo of Orange-legged drone fly
Picture by Healthy Yards. CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Orange-legged drone fly about 1.7 cm long (0.67 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 3 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 22 secondsmoves 280 times its own body length every second

How big is Orange-legged drone fly compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It flies from early April to the middle of October.

2

Its larva lives in water and has a long tail like a rat, so it is called a rat-tailed maggot.

3

Its middle and back feet are light reddish yellow.

4

The male's big eyes touch each other on top of its head.

5

The female has a large brown spot in the middle of each wing.

you asked

Most asked questions about Orange-legged drone fly

?Can the orange-legged drone fly sting?

No. It looks like a bumblebee, but it is a fly and has no sting.

?What does the orange-legged drone fly eat?

Nectar and pollen from flowers. Its larvae live in water.

Myth buster

Myth: It is a bumblebee and it can sting.

Truth: It is really a fly that only looks like a bumblebee. Flies have no sting.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Eristalis flavipes
Group
Flies and mosquitoes
Family
Syrphidae
Classification
Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Eristalis flavipes (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 Healthy Yards. CC BY 4.0, 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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