- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
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!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Who doesn't like "Pink Sugar?"
No, not the sweetener. The brilliantly colored Arctotis "Pink Sugar," also known as a pink African daisy.
"The genus name Arctotis is derived from Greek words 'arktos', which means "a bear" and 'otos' meaning "an ear" with the implication that the scales of the flower and fruit pappus look like the ears of a bear," according to the San Marcos Growers. "The reason for the specific epithet is not clear with the possibility that it come from the Greek word 'stoechas' that refers to a type of mint coupled with 'folia' meaning leaf."
"Pink Sugar" blooms from November through April, and if you're lucky, you'll see a butterfly, bee or a syrphid fly foraging on it.
This blossom below (image taken in Vacaville) drew a syrphid fly.
Syprhid flies, also known as "hover flies" or "flower flies" are good pollinators and predators: many of them prey on aphids and mealybugs. Scientists estimate that there are more than 6200 species of syrphid flies in the world, and more than 3000 in California alone.
They're often mistaken for honey bees.
Syrphid flies are easily distinguished from honey bees. Among the differences: (1) honey bees don't hover, (2) syrphids have only one pair of wings, while honey bees have two (3) syrphids have short, stubby antennae, while honey bees have long, bent antennae called genticulate antennae and (4) syrphids belong to the order Diptera, while honey bees are in the order Hymenoptera.
Maybe we should call a syrphid fly "an honorary bee."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
What are you having for Thanksgiving?
Turkey and all the trimmings?
Well, this little jumping spider had his sights set on ambushing a delicious syrphid fly.
Here's the scenario: The syrphid fly, a pollinator, hovers over a zinnia, sees no danger (the spider is tucked beneath a petal) and touches down. Ms. Fly slurps the nectar--ooh, that's good--and circles the blossom for more.
Ms. Fly, so busy slurping, is unaware that danger lurks with eight legs, excellent acuity and powerful leg muscles.
In a flash, Mr. Jumping Spider leaps.
Missed!
No meal today for Mr. Jumping Spider. Another day for Ms. Fly.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Friday Fly Day and time to post a syrphid fly with a butterfly.
The occasion: a syrphid fly and the Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) or passion butterfly are sharing a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, and neither seems bothered that the other is there.
Holes in the petals indicate that another insect, perhaps a spotted cucumber beetle, had been there.
The Mexican sunflower is like a giant floral billboard in a pollinator garden.
"Hey, insects, here I am. Come visit me. I have pollen and nectar for you. I just ask for your pollination services. I can't give you a hug or a certificate of appreciation or even a participation trophy, but I can give you a thank you in the form of free pollen and nectar. That's your reward. And tell all your friends that I am here. I am the billboard in the pollinator garden."
Happy Friday Fly Day.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
To be a fly on Friday, what a day!
Entomologists who came up with "Friday Fly Day" are having a lot of fun posting images on social media of flies on Friday.
If you access WikiHow, "What to Do on a Friday Night," you'll find all kinds of suggestions. For instance:
- Watch a movie (that's do-able)
- Challenge friends to a game night (does anybody play games any more?)
- Treat yourself to a spa at home (a spa?)
- Give yourself a makeover (a what?)
- Cook a nice meal (how nice is nice?)
- Treat yourself to cocktail (some of us prefer coffee or water)
- Read a book or a magazine (did that, already)
- Start a new hobby (who has the time? Other hobbies are failing)
- Pamper your pet (he's already pampered; he has his own Facebook page, Vito and His Friends)
- Throw a karaoke or dance party (the neighbors would not like that)
- Work on an artistic or crafty project (some of us are crafty but not artistic)
- Start a bonfire (not in California!)
- Do something physically active (stationary bikes are good)
- and on and on and on....
Nowhere, but nowhere, does it say to take an image of a fly on Friday.
It doesn't have to be a fly on a wall. It can be a fly on a flower. But it has to be a fly on a Friday.
This one is a syrphid fly, aka flower fly or hover fly (and often mistaken for a honey bee) foraging on a blanket flower, or Gaillardia.
Gaillardia, a genus in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, is named for an 18th century French magistrate/botanist, Maître Gaillard de Charentonneau.
Maître Gaillard de Charentonneau, no doubt, never observed Friday Fly Day but being a botanist, he probably loved pollinators.
Cheers to a syrphid fly on "his" flower. (Well, it is a pollinator)
