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TranslateBombylius major Bombyliidae,
Bombylius major Bombyliidae, Dark-edged Bee-Fly. Adult length 14 mm to 18 mm wingspan around 24 mm.
Flight Season…. Common in Spring,
Fairly common and widespread in Britain.
The most familiar Bee-Fly from many other species of Bee-Flies. The long proboscis is used only for drinking nectar from plants such as Lapeirousia so is completely harmless. Bee-Flies are important pollinators. Unlike butterflies, bee flies hold their proboscis straight, and cannot retract it. Many Bombyliidae superficially resemble bees and accordingly the prevalent common name for a member of the family is bee fly.
Habitat… Gardens, hedgerows and favours to bask in sheltered sunny spots
The Dark-edged Bee-Fly eat the larvae of bees and wasps in their nests.
Bee-flies in the genus Bombylius lay their eggs into the nests of solitary mining bees and wasps in their underground nests. To do this in most species the adult females collect dust or sand at the tip of their abdomen, using it to coat their eggs, which is thought to provide camouflage and perhaps also add weight to them. making it easier to flick the tiny eggs through the air into the burrows. The larvae are hypermetamorphic parasitoids which then feed on the food stored, as well as the young solitary bees or wasps.
As soon as the bee-fly's larva hatches, it then crawls further into the bee burrows and waits for the bee's own larva to grow to almost full-size. Then the bee-fly larva attacks the bee larva, feeding on its body fluids and eventually killing it. Bee-flies and bees have lived side-by-side for many millennia, and there is no evidence that bee-flies cause any major decline in bees.
They can be seen and heard hovering in an up-and-down movement above flowers and bare ground, at the same time producing a high-pitched buzzing sound.
Read MoreFlight Season…. Common in Spring,
Fairly common and widespread in Britain.
The most familiar Bee-Fly from many other species of Bee-Flies. The long proboscis is used only for drinking nectar from plants such as Lapeirousia so is completely harmless. Bee-Flies are important pollinators. Unlike butterflies, bee flies hold their proboscis straight, and cannot retract it. Many Bombyliidae superficially resemble bees and accordingly the prevalent common name for a member of the family is bee fly.
Habitat… Gardens, hedgerows and favours to bask in sheltered sunny spots
The Dark-edged Bee-Fly eat the larvae of bees and wasps in their nests.
Bee-flies in the genus Bombylius lay their eggs into the nests of solitary mining bees and wasps in their underground nests. To do this in most species the adult females collect dust or sand at the tip of their abdomen, using it to coat their eggs, which is thought to provide camouflage and perhaps also add weight to them. making it easier to flick the tiny eggs through the air into the burrows. The larvae are hypermetamorphic parasitoids which then feed on the food stored, as well as the young solitary bees or wasps.
As soon as the bee-fly's larva hatches, it then crawls further into the bee burrows and waits for the bee's own larva to grow to almost full-size. Then the bee-fly larva attacks the bee larva, feeding on its body fluids and eventually killing it. Bee-flies and bees have lived side-by-side for many millennia, and there is no evidence that bee-flies cause any major decline in bees.
They can be seen and heard hovering in an up-and-down movement above flowers and bare ground, at the same time producing a high-pitched buzzing sound.
