Flower-feeding march fly
Scaptia auriflua
The flower-feeding march fly is a fluffy, golden fly from Australia. It looks a lot like a bee. Its big eyes touch in the middle and seem to change colour in different light.
Lives in
Australia
Length
1 cm (0.39 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Most march flies bite, but this one does not bite at all.
What does it eat?
It only drinks sweet nectar from flowers. Unlike its cousins, it never drinks blood.
How big is it?
How long is it?
💅small enough to sit on your fingernail🍚as long as 1.5 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 20 seconds⚡moves 530 times its own body length every second
How big is Flower-feeding march fly compared to YOU?
Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.
How fast is it?
A kid running fast about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
Flower-feeding march fly about 19 km/h (12 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
A car driving in town about 50 km/h (31 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It belongs to the horse fly family, but it is the gentle one that visits flowers instead of biting.
2
Its thick golden hair makes it look like a bee, which helps keep hungry birds away.
3
It is about 1 centimetre long.
you asked
Most asked questions about Flower-feeding march fly
?Does the flower-feeding march fly bite?
No. Unlike other march flies, it does not bite and does not drink blood.
?What does the flower-feeding march fly eat?
It drinks nectar from flowers and nothing else.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Scaptia auriflua
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Tabanidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Tabanidae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
Where the facts come from
- Scaptia auriflua (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 dhobern. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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