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Bee Fly - Systoechus vulgaris
Order Diptera / Suborder Brachycera / Infraorder Muscomorpha / Family
Bombyliidae -- bee flies, bombiles / Subfamily Bombyliinae / Tribe
Bombyliini
Live adult bee flies photographed at Winfield, Illinois, USA. |
| Adult bee flies become active about the third week of April here in
the American midwest. They are extremely agile and quick fliers,
very wary and difficult to approach. They rarely actually alight on
a flower, preferring instead to hover just above, while lowering
their proboscis for nectar. I think this behavior is defense against
spiders or other predators that may be lying in wait. The larval
stages live as parasites in the nests of solitary bees (e.g.,
Andrena, Halictus and Colletes species), where they eat the food
stores and grubs of their host. |
Female Bee Fly takes nectar at Black-eyed Susan,
Rudbeckia hirta |
Obviously, this bee fly is not hovering over this
flower, as is so often their habit. |
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