Black-Footed Drone Fly

eristalis hirta

The Black-Footed Drone Fly is a fascinating insect that looks like a tiny bee! Kids will love watching it buzz around flowers, helping to pollinate them.

Hábitat: Gardens, parks, and near bodies of water.

Aspecto

The Black-Footed Drone Fly is a plump, hairy insect strikingly similar to a bumblebee, with a body often banded in black and yellow or orange. Its defining characteristic is its dark, almost entirely black, legs, distinguishing it from many other hoverflies. It has large eyes and a single pair of clear wings.

ReinoAnimaliaFiloArthropodaClaseInsectaOrdenDipteraFamiliaSyrphidaeGéneroEristalis

Black-Footed Drone Fly

Categoría

Insectos

Rareza

Common

Peligro

0/5 · Sin peligro conocido

Snaps

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Datos interesantes

Adult drone flies can taste sweet nectar with their feet before even landing.

Their 'rat-tailed maggot' larvae breathe underwater using a snorkel-like tail!

These flies use their huge compound eyes to see almost all the way around them.

Though they look like bees, drone flies cannot sting – they are totally harmless!

Habilidades especiales

Black-Footed Drone Fly can look exactly like a bee or wasp because of its body shape and colors, which helps them scare away predators.

Black-Footed Drone Fly can hover perfectly still in the air because of its powerful flight muscles, which helps them feed on flowers.

Black-Footed Drone Fly has fuzzy bodies that pick up pollen easily, which helps them spread pollen between flowers as they feed.

Black-Footed Drone Fly larvae can live in stagnant, murky water because they have a long breathing tube, which helps them survive where others can't.

Medidas y detalles

Envergadura: 15-25 mm
Tamaño: 7-12 mm
Esperanza de vida: 14-28 días
Velocidad de vuelo: 8 km/h
Cantidad de patas: 6

Dieta y alimentación

Adult drone flies sip sweet nectar from flowers, while their larvae are amazing nature's clean-up crew!

Diferencias por edad: Larvae (rat-tailed maggots) consume decaying organic matter, bacteria, and algae in water. Adults feed on nectar and pollen from flowers.

Alimentos principales

nectar
pollen
decaying organic matter
bacteria
algae

Método de búsqueda

Foraging

Conexiones ecológicas

pollinates

Dandelion

Taraxacum officinale

helps spread pollen for

eaten by

House Sparrow

Passer domesticus

provides a food source for

eaten by

Flower Crab Spider

Misumena vatia

gets ambushed by

pollinates

Goat Willow

Salix caprea

visits early spring catkins for

Rasgos

Social

Los animales sociales viven en grupos organizados, cooperando para obtener beneficios de supervivencia como la búsqueda de alimento, la defensa y la cría de descendencia.