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Posts Tagged: Bombyliidae
Bee Flies: Pollinators with a Bad Reputation
The late Argentine-born biologist Beatriz Moisset (1934-2022) of Willow Grove, Pa., called the insect "A Pollinator with a Bad Reputation." Moisset, who received her doctorate from the University of Cordoba, Argentina, and authored the...
A bee fly, family Bombyliidae, heads for a yellow zinnia in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bee fly hovers over a yellow zinina. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bee fly sips nectar from the zinnia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The bee fly takes flight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Why Flies Are Pollinators, Too!
Will all the pollinators please stand up! Or do a fly-by like the Blue Angels or a crawl-by like babies competing in a diaper derby. Bees--there are more than 4000 of them in North America--are the main pollinators, but don't overlook butterflies,...
A bee fly, genus Villa, collecting pollen on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Honey bee (left) and a syrphid fly, aka hover fly or flower fly, sharing a Tithonia. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Not Bees--They're Flies
There are "bees" and there are "flies."And then there are "bee flies."Bee flies? They're so named because they look somewhat like bees. Order: Diptera. Family: Bombyliidae.We spotted a single bee fly, as identified by UC Davis forensic entomologist Bob...
Bee Fly
Large Body
Sip of Nectar
