Hover Flies
Its that time of year again where Perth is being inundated with hover flies, riding warm easterly winds from the Wheat belt to head for the shelter of Perth's shady backyards.
Huge numbers of the gold and black bee-like pests, in search of sap sucking aphids, have landed.
Hover Flies are also know as Flower Flies. Some species are called Drone Flies. Hover Flies may sometimes confused with stinging bees or wasps because of their mimic colour. Their bodies are slender, from small to medium in size. On their abdomen there are the yellow-black wasp’s pattern and the narrow waist mimic pattern. Hover Flies visit flowers as bees and wasps. They are major pollinators of some flower plants. They are usually seen hovering or resting on flowers. The flies feed on nectar and are the pollinators of plants as well.
Like most other flies, Hover Flies have very large eyes and short antenna. They have one pair of wings which are clear in colour.
Most larvae of the Hover Flies are predators of many soft body insects such as aphids, scale insects, thrips, and caterpillars. Sometimes you see the Hover Flies searching for the aphids. Beside nectar, Hover Flies feed on honey dew produced by aphids as well. Some species of Hover Flies lay eggs near the aphid’s colony. Their maggot-like larvae are the predators of aphids.
Some larvae in this family live in ant nests, where they live as scavengers or predators.
Both flies in the Hover fly family and Bee Fly family mimic bees. The main character to recognize between them is Bee Flies have longer wings. Hover Flies have shorter wings with a series of closed cell on the wings hind margins.