Family: Syrphidae, Hover Flies view all from this family

Description 5/8" (16 mm). Stout, resembling Honey Bee but no waist between thorax and abdomen. Dark brown to blackish. Thorax and 1st abdominal segment have short brownish-yellow hair; 2 nd abdominal segment has 2 yellow blotches on sides, which do not meet in the middle; 3rd segment has narrow yellow band. Wings clear or slightly blotched with brown, held apart, slightly raised at rest. Movements mimic Honey Bee.

Food Adult feeds on nectar and pollen. Larva scavenges organic matter.

Life Cycle Sticky, elongate white eggs are laid in groups of 20 or more in crevices near foul-smelling stagnant water. Aquatic larvae breathe through exceptionally long snorkel-like tubes at tip of abdomens. Fully grown larvae creep to soil and pupate for 8-10 days. Adults appear in late June but disappear in cool weather.

Habitat Meadows and fields, on flowers, particularly daisies and other composites.

Range Labrador to Florida, west to California, north to Alaska.

Discussion Larvae, called rat-tailed maggots, are usually found in wet carrion and in open latrines. They are responsible for numerous cases of intestinal myiasis in people. Adult flies sometimes emerge from carrion, a phenomenon that was probably the basis for the myth that Honey Bees develop in dead mammals, as told in the Biblical story of Samson and the lion, and in writings of Ovid, Virgil, and Solomon. The adults so closely resemble Honey Bees that people and insectivorous animals avoid them; nevertheless the robber fly known as the Bee Assassin catches Drone Flies as readily as it does Honey Bees.