Common forest hover fly
| Common forest hover fly | ||||||||||||
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Common forest hover fly ( Volucella pellucens ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Volucella pellucens | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The common forest hover fly or bumblebee hover fly ( Volucella pellucens ) is a fly from the family of hover flies (Syrphidae).
features
The flies reach a body length of 12 to 18 millimeters. The frons (forehead region) and the front part of the head with the slightly extended forward mouth parts are dyed reddish-yellow. The antennae are also reddish yellow and have a feathery bristle. The compound eyes are wine red and very close together in the females. The mesonotum is glossy black on the upper side, dark rust-brown on the sides and has black bristles. The label is tinted rusty brown and has black bristles on the edge. The short and plump abdomen is black, the second segment of the abdomen is characteristic of ivory. This band can also be separated in the middle by a narrow black spine in two spots. The wings have a noticeable dark spot in the middle. The legs are black, only the thigh rings (trochanter) and the tarsi of the forelegs are basal rust-brown.
Occurrence
The animals are found in the Palearctic and Oriental . They are common in Central Europe from the lowlands to high altitudes and fly from May to September. They live on forest edges, clearings and paths.
Way of life
The adults can be observed visiting flowers, especially on white flowers such as elderberries , dogwood , privet , raspberries , blackberries or hogweed , but they also eat tree sap. The larvae develop in the nests of wasps and bumblebees and feed on waste and dead insects, but presumably also on the brood. They overwinter in the ground.
swell
- Gerald Bothe: Hoverflies. German Youth Association for Nature Observation, Hamburg 1996.
- Joachim & Hiroko Haupt: Flies and mosquitoes: observation, way of life. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-278-4 .
