Nov 15, 2024
It's Friday Fly Day and what an appropriate day to honor a syrphid fly.
This syrphid, caught in flight, was seeking nectar from a Gaura, a genus of flowering plants in the family Onagraceae, native to North America.
Syrphid flies, also known as flower flies or hover flies, belong to the family Syrphidae, one of the largest families in the order Diptera. The family includes some 6,000 described species, widely distributed around the world.
This one, with its black and yellow stripes, resembles the coloring of a yellowjacket. However, flies have only one pair of wings while bees and wasps have two. And the fly's large eyes and short antenna also distinguish it from bees and wasps.
Happy Friday Fly Day!
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