Common Drone Fly
Here's a Common Drone Fly . As the most widespread syrphid in the world -and- as a bee mimic, it's been suggested that they've been misidentified in photographs as bees more than any other species. And they are very widespread, being pretty much everywhere with the (not uncommon) exception of Antarctica [1] [2]. The males are very territorial, and not just against rival males of their species. They apparently dart after and attempt to chase away bees, wasps, butterflies, and (presumably) other types of flies. Since they can't sting and they're a lot smaller than many butterflies, it's unclear they'd win a fight against any of these guys [3]. Perhaps it's a bluff that frequently works because the other insects don't want to risk a fight against a foe they don't understand? It sounds like defending their territory is so ingrained in them that when they need a break from all that darting around, they actually leave their own territory for some R...