Ferruginous bee-grabber

Sicus ferrugineus

Eats: Nectar and pollen Flies and mosquitoesGardens and meadows6 legs

The ferruginous bee-grabber is a reddish brown fly with a big, puffy yellow head and red eyes. When it rests, it curls its long tail end forward under its body. It has a sneaky secret: its babies grow up inside bumblebees.

Lives in

Much of Europe, in hedgerows and flowery meadows

Length

0.8 to 1.3 cm (0.31 to 0.51 in)

Top speed

about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)

Flying, estimate

Can it hurt you?

Harmless

Harmless to people. It does not bite or sting.

What does it eat?

Grown-ups drink nectar and eat pollen from flowers like thistles, hogweed and brambles. The larvae live inside bumblebees and feed on them.

Photo of Ferruginous bee-grabber — Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowcould fly across a whole football pitch in 38 secondsmoves 210 times its own body length every second

How big is Ferruginous bee-grabber compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)

Ferruginous bee-grabber about 10 km/h (6.2 mph)

A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)

A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)

cool stuff

Fun facts

Its larva lives inside a bumblebee and feeds on it from the inside.

The larva even spends the winter inside the bumblebee.

Its wings are clear but reddish yellow near the body.

You can see it from May to September.

you asked

Most asked questions about Ferruginous bee-grabber

?Why is it called a bee-grabber?

Because its babies grow up inside bumblebees.

?Is the bee-grabber dangerous to people?

No. It is harmless to people, it only troubles bumblebees.

For bug experts

Scientific name: Sicus ferrugineus
Named by: Linnaeus, 1761
Group: Flies and mosquitoes
Family: Conopidae
Classification: Insecta > Diptera > Conopidae
Lives on: Europe

Where the facts come from

Sicus ferrugineus (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 Hectonichus. 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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