Tags
#365DaysWild, British hoverflies, Chrysotoxum bicinctum, Episyrphus balteatus, Helophilus pendulus, hoverfly, Volucella bombylans, Volucella bombylans subsp. plumata, Xanthogramma pedissequum
I found a new path today, which led me through swathes of long grass bordered by brambles and low shrubby bushes. I emerged with wet shoes and trousers from the dew still coating the grass but with lots of photos of hoverflies, so I will definitely be going back to explore further. Here are the hovers …
Volucella bombylans and Volucella bombylans subsp. plumata
At first glance you might think these two hoverflies were bumblebees, and that’s exactly what they want you to think – or, rather, what they want bumblebees to think, because they don’t want to be caught out when sneaking in to lay their eggs in the nests of the bumblebees they mimic (which are the Red-tailed bumblebee Bombus lapidarius and the White-tailed bumblebee Bombus lucorum respectively).
Helophilus pendulus and Chrysotoxum bicinctum
Do you see why the hoverfly on the left is known as The Footballer? I’m not sure which football team his colourful markings are meant to represent – perhaps Helophilus pendulus has its own team. Its distinctive bands of bright yellow make Chrysotoxum bicinctum one of the easier hoverflies to identify.
Xanthogramma pedissequum and Episyrphus balteatus
Xanthogramma pedissequum is another hoverfly with reasonably easy to identify markings – believe me, not all hoverflies are so easy! And with its rich orange colouring, Episyrphus balteatus looks almost edible, which is probably why it’s called the Marmalade hoverfly.
earthstar 
i ve always assumed hoverfly mimicry is for the eyes of birds, and pheremones or sound is how they fool the bees or wasps that some of them lay eggs in the nests of. its going to be pretty dark in the nests of these things so visual cues would be useless. there are certain flies that enter wasp nests that dont look anything like wasps. maybe its just a coincidence that some bumblebee parasites look like bumbleees. looking like a bumblebee is not only useful on flowers, but might make predation from birds less frequent when they are hovering about near the ground searching for bee nests. on a similar thread, ive read a few times that the thorax markings on deathshead hawkmoths look like the queen bee, allowing the moths to access hives. this is surely giving far too much credit to the visual imagination of bees
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Interesting. My hoverflies guide book has a section on mimicry – the most recent theory is that it’s what’s called Batesian mimicry – ‘by looking like a stinging and distasteful bee or wasp, a hoverfly gains a degree of protection from predators, even though it is perfectly edible’.
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I’m glad you said ‘almost’ edible, as I’d rather have a shortbread any day! 😉
We’ve loads of different bees here, and a few odd-looking wasps, as well as the hoverflies. We’ve the actual red-tailed bees and I adore them, they’re so cute. I call them ‘red-bum’ bees!
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Red-bum bee is very appropriate! 🙂
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