Yellow-shouldered drone fly
Eristalis stipator
The yellow-shouldered drone fly is a hoverfly from North America that looks a bit like a bee. The front half of its wings is reddish brown. It loves to gather on the tops of hills.
Lives in
North America, mostly in the west
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Hoverflies have no sting and cannot bite.
What does it eat?
Like other hoverflies, the grown-ups visit flowers for nectar and pollen.
How fast is it?
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Yellow-shouldered drone fly about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It flies from mid-May to early November, and in the south even from February.
2
It goes hilltopping, which means it gathers on hilltops to find a partner.
3
It has a band of long white hairs on its tummy.
4
The female has a silvery white forehead with a black stripe down the middle.
you asked
Most asked questions about Yellow-shouldered drone fly
?Is the drone fly a bee?
No. It is a hoverfly that looks a little like a bee, but it has no sting.
?Where does the yellow-shouldered drone fly live?
In North America, mostly in the west.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eristalis stipator
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Eristalis stipator (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 Catherine C. Galley. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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