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- This page contains pictures and information about Hover
Flies in family Syrphidae that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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 - Hovering above my head
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- Hover
Flies in family Syrphidae are common in Brisbane as well as in
Australia. They are very good fliers. Most of them good in hovering. They
can stay motionless in air.
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- Hover Flies are also known as Flower Flies. Some species are called Drone
Flies. Hover Flies may sometimes confused with stinging bees or wasps because of their
mimic colour (Batesian
mimics of Hymenoptera). Their bodies are slender, from small to medium in
size. On their abdomen there
are the yellow-black bends and narrow waist mimic pattern. Some species
resemble muscoid flies. Hover
Flies visit flowers as bees and
wasps. They are major pollinators of
some flower plants. They are usually seen hovering or resting
on flowers.
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 - Larva hunting aphids
Pupa
Photo thank to Trevor Jink
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- Like most other flies, Hover Flies have very large eyes and short antenna. They have one pair of wings which are clear in colour.
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- The adult Hoverflies feed on nectar and are the pollinators of plants as
well. We sometimes see the Hover Flies searching for the
aphids on plants. Beside
nectar, Hover Flies feed on honey dew produced by aphids as well.
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- Larvae of the Hover Flies are predators of many soft body insects such
as aphids, scale insects, thrips and caterpillars. Some species
of Hover Flies lay eggs near the aphids colony. Their maggot-like larvae are
the predators of aphids. For detail Hover Fly life-cycle information please
click on here.
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- Some larvae in this family live in ant nests where they live as scavengers
or predators.
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- Both flies Hover flies family and Bee Flies (Bombyliidae)
family mimic bees and wasps.
Bee Flies have longer wings while Hover Flies have shorter wings with a series of
closed cell on the wings hind margins.
- Syrphinae - Slender Hover
Flies
 
 
 
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- Eristalinae - Drone
Flies
 
 
 
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- Microdontinae -
Wasp-mimic Hover Flies
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia - CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p763.
- 2. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus
& Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p368.
- 3. Family SYRPHIDAE -
Australasian/Oceanian Diptera Catalog - Web Version, by F. Christian Thompson & J.R. Vockeroth, 2007.
- 4. Syrphidae - Graeme's Insects of Townsville, Australia.
- 5. Family SYRPHIDAE - Australian Biological Resources Study, Australian Faunal Directory.
- 6. Northern
Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009.
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- Back to Top
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- [ Syrphinae ] [ Eristalinae ] [ Microdontinae ] [ Others ]
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