Greater Bee Fly

Fascinating facts about the Greater Bee Fly

• By looking like a bumblebee, the greater bee-fly can approach solitary bee and wasp nests without startling the occupants. This visual deception lets the female get close enough to the nest entrance to lay her eggs. The mimicry also offers some protection from predators, although the fly can be distinguished by its single pair of wings and thin legs. The strategy enables the species to exploit the nests of its hosts for larval development.
• When a female spots a solitary bee nest, she hovers directly above the entrance before releasing her eggs. In a swift flicking motion she drops the eggs so they land near the nest opening, where the larvae can later find their way inside. If she cannot reach the nest, she may deposit eggs on flowers that visiting hosts later carry back. This behaviour is most common in spring, with adults appearing from late March through May and sometimes into June.
• The greater bee-fly is a dominant pollinator in many habitats, sometimes delivering pollen to as much as two thirds of the local flowers. It does not specialise on any single plant, instead visiting a wide range of families and species across the landscape. Using its long proboscis, the fly collects nectar and pollen and transfers pollen as it feeds, making it an important generalist pollinator.
• The larvae develop as hypermetamorphic parasitoids inside solitary bee or wasp nests. There they feed on the stored provisions and the young host larvae.
• The greater bee-fly is a common, generalist pollinator that visits many plant families. It shows no preference for any single flower, gathering nectar and pollen from a wide array.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Greater Bee Fly

As the warm sunlight dances across the landscape, the Greater Bee Fly emerges, its furry, bee-like body a masterful disguise, allowing it to flit from flower to flower with impunity, its long, extendable proboscis uncoiling like a ghostly finger to sip nectar from the very depths of the blossoms. With a hypnotic buzz, it hovers, its iridescent wings beating at a furious pace, a whirlwind of motion that belies its tranquil, almost languid, demeanor. In this fleeting, sun-kissed world, the Greater Bee Fly reigns, a diminutive, yet remarkable, monarch of the air.

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