Tapered Drone Fly

Fascinating facts about the Tapered Drone Fly

• The larvae of this hoverfly are the distinctive rat-tailed maggots that develop in water bodies rich in organic matter but poor in oxygen. They inhabit drainage ditches, pools beside manure heaps and sewage-filled hollows, environments where the water's high organic load creates the low-oxygen conditions they need. Such sites are common in the wetland, farmland and garden habitats the species frequents, providing the moist substrate required for their growth.
• The fly's wings measure between 8.25 and 12.75 mm in length and display a darkened median band whose border is diffusely spread across the surface. A striking feature is the pterostigma, which is four times as long as it is wide, giving the wing a pronounced elongated spot near the tip. The arista on the antenna is plumose right to its tip, adding to the wing's detailed appearance.
• Males and females can be separated by the shape of their abdomen: males possess a triangular abdomen while females have a squarish one. The first two pairs of tarsi are entirely yellow.
• Adults of this hoverfly are on the wing from February right through November. During these months they can be seen visiting flowers in a wide variety of habitats, from wetland and fen to farmland and suburban gardens.
• Its range stretches across the Palaearctic, from the northern reaches of Fennoscandia down to Iberia and the Mediterranean basin, covering a broad latitudinal gradient. The distribution continues eastward through Ireland, across Europe to Turkey and European Russia, and reaches as far as the Urals.

Sources

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

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Tapered Drone Fly

In the warm, sun-drenched meadows, the Tapered Drone Fly dances through the air with effortless elegance, its slender body and long, tapered abdomen glinting like polished onyx as it hovers and darts with precision. With a mesmerizing flutter of its iridescent wings, this diminutive master of the skies navigates the intricate landscape of wildflowers and grasses, its large, shimmering eyes drinking in every detail of its surroundings. As it moves, the Tapered Drone Fly embodies a sense of weightless freedom, its very existence a testament to the beauty and wonder of the natural world.

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