20 Large Bee Fly

Bombylius major

Characteristics

Length: 0.55–0.71 in (14–18 mm).

Flight season: March–June.

Nectar sources: Many flowers.

Habitat: Forest edge, meadows, scrub, gardens.

With its very hairy, orange-buff body and beelike flight, this insect fools most people into thinking it’s a bumblebee. Many birds, and other predators, are fooled too! This kind of mimicry serves the bee fly very well. Like other flies, it has two wings, but it is not a typical fly. It has a very long, rigid proboscis, ideal for drinking nectar as it hovers in front of a flower. And its wings are two-toned, the front part blackish and the rear clear.

Bee flies live in temperate Eurasia and North America. They are effective pollinators of early-flowering plants, but their predatory larvae limit the populations of other species of pollinators. They are parasitic insects. Female bee flies lay their eggs close to the nests of solitary bees and wasps. When the larvae hatch, they find their way into the nest burrow of their host and do untold damage—not only eating the food stored by the parent bee or wasp, but eating the host’s larvae as well.