Hover Fly
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This dangerous-looking little bee is actually a harmless hover fly. It’s flashy coloration mimics that of bees and wasps, hopefully to encourage predators to look elsewhere for dinner.
The experts over at bugguide tell me this fly eats pollen and nectar, but beyond that all I know about this critter is that it isn’t shy for the camera at all. I was able to take a picture with the camera nearly within 3cm before it flew off.
Slowly getting the site back onto an even keel. It's nice to get back into the old posting rhythm.
Jeremiah said,
August 22, 2007 @ 7:50 am
Awesome detail - I love the clearness of the wing patterns.
Thor said,
October 7, 2007 @ 12:14 am
Borrowing somebody else’s color scheme probably makes it more confident than most flies.
Insect Picture of the Day » Bee said,
March 27, 2008 @ 8:34 am
[...] in the airfoil chevron shape more commonly associated with flies, and we’ve already seen that some flies go to great lengths to look like bees. Most bumblebees I’ve observed have wings with rounded ends like this. I could be wrong, [...]