Black-horned smoothtail
Epistrophe grossulariae
The black-horned smoothtail is a hoverfly with yellow and black stripes on its body. It looks a bit like a wasp, but it is a gentle fly. It likes woods near rivers and streams, where it visits flowers in the sunshine.
Lives in
Europe, Asia and North America, in woods near streams
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It looks like a wasp, but hoverflies have no sting.
What does it eat?
The grown-up fly visits flowers such as thistles, elder and raspberry flowers. Its larva is a hunter that eats aphids.
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)
Black-horned smoothtail about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
Its larva eats aphids, so it helps keep plants free of those little pests.
2
It lives in a huge area, from Ireland across Russia to Kamchatka, and in North America from Alaska to California.
3
Each wing is about 9 to 12 mm long.
4
It flies from the end of June to September.
you asked
Most asked questions about Black-horned smoothtail
?Can the black-horned smoothtail sting?
No. Its yellow and black stripes only make it look like a wasp. It has no sting.
?What does the black-horned smoothtail eat?
The adult visits flowers. The larva eats aphids.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Epistrophe grossulariae
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia, North America
Where the facts come from
- Epistrophe grossulariae (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 James K. Lindsey. 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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