Stripe-eyed lagoon fly
Eristalinus taeniops
The stripe-eyed lagoon fly is a hoverfly dressed in yellow and black like a bee. Its big eyes have five dark stripes running down them. Many people think it is a bee or wasp, but it cannot sting.
Lives in
Southern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and southern Asia, and now the Americas, near water
Length
1.1 to 1.4 cm (0.43 to 0.55 in)
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It looks like a bee, but it cannot sting.
What does it eat?
Grown-ups drink nectar from yellow and white flowers. The larvae live in mud and dirty water.
How big is it?
How long is it?
🍚as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a row⚽could fly across a whole football pitch in 24 seconds⚡moves 320 times its own body length every second
How big is Stripe-eyed lagoon 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)
Stripe-eyed lagoon fly about 16 km/h (9.9 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
Its larvae are rat-tailed maggots, with a long breathing tube like a snorkel.
2
Copying the look of a bee keeps it safe from birds.
3
It was found in Brazil and Argentina only recently.
4
The flies are out from April to October, most of all in summer.
you asked
Most asked questions about Stripe-eyed lagoon fly
?Does the stripe-eyed lagoon fly sting?
No. It only looks like a bee. Flies cannot sting.
?How big is the stripe-eyed lagoon fly?
About 11 to 14 millimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Eristalinus taeniops
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America
- Also known as
- Band-eyed drone fly
Where the facts come from
- Eristalinus taeniops (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 Chaym Turak. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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