northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's a Tufted Globetail from last spring. They are hoverflies in the globetail genus , which gets its name because the males have tails (actually abdomens) that end in little globes. (In this species the tail is more "thick and rounded" rather than a globe.) If this individual was a female, the abdomen would have ended in more of a point. I generally expect these flies to have more prominent black stripes on the abdomen, though I'm not sure how much variation they can have. If you were thinking this was a wasp, the hoverfly is doing its job; most hoverflies are wasp/bee mimics who "impersonate" stinging insects to get some of the protection their stinging look-alikes command. Although they can be found throughout most of North America, they're especially prevalent in Canada and the northern US. Hoverflies are also called "flower flies" (also syrphids) because as adults they're basically pollinating insects who hang around flowering plan...

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...

Here's another fly that looks like a bee and another invasive species, a European Drone Fly . The best clue that this isn't a bee (or wasp or flying ant) is that it only has 1 pair of wings (though admittedly some bees/wasps are small enough that it's hard to get a good look at their wings). Like other syrphid flies , these flies are helpful to plants as pollinators; they have no interest in biting you. They probably fit into our ecosystem pretty well partly because they've basically supplanted a similar native fly, the Hourglass Drone Fly . The Hourglass Drone Fly used to be one of our most common syrphid flies, and would probably get confused with the European Drone Fly except that the Europeans have out-competed [1] the Hourglasses throughout North America except for some areas around Hudson Bay. June 11, 2022 at Duke Farms Photo 209944365, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] It's possible that the European Drone Fly and Hourglass Drone Fly interb...

Here's a belligerent wasp that you wouldn't want to meet, right? Wrong! This isn't a wasp at all but a non-stinging hoverfly , more precisely the Yellow-spotted Falsehorn. Note that I won't be able to tell you a lot about this fly since it's one of those species (and genii) that doesn't have a lot written about it (at least online). What I can tell you is that, like some other hoverflies like the Eastern Calligrapher and the Transverse-banded Flower Fly , these flies are bee/wasp mimics. In the insect world if you're not going to be dangerous yourself, it pays to at least look dangerous, and these guys do it by looking like someone who could sting you. And like the other hoverflies, as adults they do like their nectar. As kids (larvae) these flies bore into and eat wood, though it sounds like they mostly go after rotting wood/logs; it's unclear that they're much of a threat to healthy trees. The falsehorn flies shouldn't be confused with the ho...

Where there are flowers, these Transverse-banded Flower Flies can sometimes be seen. Like all syrphid flies (aka flower flies and hover flies), these are true flies (unlike fireflies, who are secretly beetles, or butterflies or dragonflies, that are completely different insects).  If you have a garden and hate being stung, these flies are right up your alley. As adults they're all about nectar, pollen, and honeydew, are incapable of stinging, and apparently don't bite. And while butterflies also meet those criteria, these flies have an additional benefit. As kids (aka larvae) they'll eat some garden pests like aphids. They are also a classic example of Batesian mimicry since they look dangerous but aren't. I'm not exactly sure who they're trying to mimic though: Their color and shape could fool a predator into thinking they're bumblebees . Their color and lack of fuzziness could fool a predator into thinking they're yellowjackets . Perhaps they're...

Meet an Eastern Calligrapher , an insect I probably haven't shown you before. (At least I hope it's an Eastern Calligrapher; some of its relatives look similar.) Eastern Calligraphers are part of a very large group of insects sometimes called hover flies (the males will hover around, either defending a territory from other males or just hoping to get the attention of a female), sometimes called flower flies (the adults feed off of the nectar and pollen of flowering plants), and sometimes called  syrphid flies (pronounced SUR-fid, which appears to come from Greek and Latin words loosely meaning "descended from gnats"). These flies have a waspy look, are considered wasp mimics, and since they can't sting, they're a good example of Batesian mimicry . Notice though that as flies, they have only 1 pair of wings whereas wasps, bees, and most flying insects have 2 pairs of wings.  They're considered pollinators , though they're probably not as effective as...