Hoverflies are good news

Syrphid flies, also known as hoverflies and flower flies are very effective pollinators. These flies look a lot like bees with striped yellow and black bodies. To tell a hoverfly from the bees and wasps they mimic look for only one set of wings to indicate that it is a fly. Flies have evolved their other set of wings into halteres which they use like gyroscopes to help them stabilize during flight.

Hoverflies can sip nectar and feed on pollen. They rely almost exclusively on flowers for their food and are flower generalists so they can pollinate a wide array of flowers. Flowers that attract hoverflies include trillium, prairie clover, sunflowers, blazing stars, wild quinine, pawpaw, and many others.

Hoverfly larva are voracious killers of aphids. When the parent is ready to lay eggs she smells out a colony of aphids or sometimes other specialist prey. The eggs are laid on the plant next to the aphid colony. The caterpillar like larvae seek out aphids and slurp them up. Once the larva has eaten enough aphids it turns into a pupa and undergoes complete metamorphosis, emerging at a hoverfly.

A less often heard nick name of the hoverfly is the good news bees. Let’s help everyone know that it is good news to have these bee mimics in our gardens.