Florida calligrapher
Toxomerus floralis
The Florida calligrapher is a small hoverfly. Hoverflies can hang still in the air like tiny helicopters. This one comes from the Americas and has travelled all the way to Africa.
Lives in
From the southern United States through South America, and now also in Africa
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. Hoverflies cannot sting or bite people.
What does it eat?
Grown-up hoverflies visit flowers. Its larvae feed on plants, and it is the only one in its group known to use plants from two different plant families.
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)
Florida calligrapher about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
A grown-up on a bike about 25 km/h (16 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
In Africa it lays its eggs on a grassy weed called nutgrass, and the young grow up there until they turn into adults.
2
Its larvae can eat plants from two different plant families, which no other member of its group is known to do.
3
Its home stretches from the southern United States all the way through South America.
you asked
Most asked questions about Florida calligrapher
?Is the Florida calligrapher a bee?
No. It is a hoverfly. It cannot sting.
?Where does the Florida calligrapher live?
From the southern United States to South America, and it has also been brought to Africa.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Toxomerus floralis
- Group
- Flies and mosquitoes
- Family
- Syrphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Diptera > Syrphidae
- Lives on
- North America, South America, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Toxomerus floralis (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 Even Dankowicz. CC BY 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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