#bee-fly

[natureisthegreatestartist]

Did you know that fuzzy little bee-flies, which are flies in the family Bombyliidae, are really good pollinators?

[apsciencebylyn]

Things that make me happy, on a day I need it:

Fuzz-bum going in for the snack

[ichbineinkriechend]

these adorable little bitches are SO fucking fast, this is the first time I managed to get pictures of one 😌

[ID: Three pictures of a bee-fly (Wollschweber, bombylius) sitting on a buttercup. End ID]

[drhoz]

#2117 - Comptosia sp.

A largish genus of larger Bee-flies - over 60 species, all Australian.

[synalpheus]

And to finally revisit that one Sunday two weeks ago... beautiful weather and lots of nice animals! Last two photos are from my phone and I’m sorry about the quality haha. Anyway:

- Little ringed plovers (Charadrius dubius)

- Large bee-fly (Bombylius major). Very fluffy, but don’t be fooled! Their larvae live as parasites inside other insects.

- Just a nice view with flowering trees

- A bit of a solar halo effect

- Lots and lots of wood anemones (Anemonoides nemorosa). Some of the first flowers to bloom in spring!

[xyzquantumpoet]

Bee-Fly © xYz - Quantum Poet, 2017 Digitally manipulated photograph, in the style of Qi Baishi.

I caught this dark-edged bee-fly (Bombylius major) sunning itself on my window ledge in the early morning, on 2nd April 2017, and was lucky to get one in-focus shot, captured with my iPhone 5s camera, before it flew off into the garden.   I love the detail of the proboscis and wing veins in the shadow.  The photo instantly brought the art of Qi Baishi to my mind, so I have presented my little bee-fly here in homage to him.

In Britain there are four species of bee-fly in the genus Bombylius.  All four Bombylius have a long proboscis extending forward from the head, which they use to feed on nectar from flowering plants, often doing so while hovering over the flowers.  They lay their eggs into the nests of solitary bees, where the bee-fly larvae predate on the host bee larvae. The dark-edged bee-fly is by far the most frequently seen species in the UK, and is a familiar feature of early spring in gardens as well as countryside.  I love the little furry critters!

[drhoz]

#2116 - Tribe Villini - Banded Beefly

A charming little parasitoid and pollinator. At least one species of Villa, in Africa, is a parasite of Tsetse Flies.

Cooma, NSW

[drhoz]

#1637 - Australiphthiria sp.

Photos by Kay Muddiman 

“Really tiny, body length only around 7mm. There were heaps of them enjoying the nectar from our Shasta Daisies. Location Crooked Corner on the boundary of the Southern and Central Tablelands of NSW, elevation 805m.” 

Australiphthiria are unusual for bee-flies, in that they are nearly hairless and don’t have the distinctively bent wing-veins displayed by many species. I don’t have any information on what they parasitise.