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Sticker of Banded thintail
Bug card No. 0284 of 4,939

Banded thintail

Meliscaeva cinctella
Eats: Nectar and pollenFlies and mosquitoesGardens and meadows6 legs

The banded thintail is a slim hoverfly with a long body and yellow bands on its belly. Its face is all yellow. It can hang still in the air, then zoom away to the next flower.

Lives in
Europe, Asia across to the Pacific coast, and North America from Alaska to California
Top speed
about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
Flying, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a fly and has no sting.
What does it eat?
Grown-ups visit flowers like dandelions, hawthorn and elder. The babies eat aphids on bushes and trees, so gardeners like them.
For real!Photo of Banded thintail
Picture by Thomas Bresson. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Each wing is about 7 to 10 millimetres long.

2

It visits lots of different flowers, from raspberries and elder to dandelions and goldenrod.

3

Its babies hunt aphids, the tiny bugs that suck sap from plants.

4

You can see it flying from April to September in forests, hedges, gardens and parks.

you asked

Most asked questions about Banded thintail

?Can the banded thintail sting?

No. It is a fly and has no sting, even though its yellow bands look a little like a wasp.

?What does the banded thintail eat?

Grown-ups visit flowers for nectar and pollen. The babies eat aphids.

For bug experts

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

Where the facts come from

  1. Meliscaeva cinctella (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 Thomas Bresson. CC BY 2.0, 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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