Tree sap hover fly
| Tree sap hover fly | ||||||||||||
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Tree sap hover fly ( Brachyopa bicolor ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Brachyopa bicolor | ||||||||||||
| ( Fallén , 1817) |
The tree sap hover fly ( Brachyopa bicolor ) is a fly from the family of the hover flies (Syrphidae), which looks very similar to flower flies due to its coloration . One can distinguish them from these by the strongly protruding face at the edge of the mouth and the veins of the wings. It belongs to the genus Brachyopa , whose species are habitually very difficult to distinguish.
features
The flies reach a length of about 6.5 millimeters. The head and antennae are rusty yellow in color, the face is dusted with whitish. The antennae bristle is very finely haired. The mesonotum is dark gray and has three dark longitudinal lines on the upper side, the middle one being divided. The abdomen is stocky and red-yellow in color. The legs are also red-yellow, only the tarsi are dark.
Way of life
The adults feed exclusively on the tree sap that escapes from oaks and beeches . The males whirring their wings while sitting. The larvae live in rotting tree fungi that grow on oaks and beeches.
swell
- Joachim & Hiroko Haupt: Flies and mosquitoes: observation, way of life. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-278-4 .
