This imitation wasp comes a long way with bluff

There is a man near me that everyone is a little afraid of. He’s not big, but he’s wide, and emphasizes that by keeping his elbows well away from him. The often somewhat red eyes under heavy eyebrows look angrily at the world. And he has a tattoo. From a skull.

Appearance means nothing, of course, but I crawled a little closer to the bush in which I was looking at all kinds of nice insects when it walked past my garden.

He shouted: “Watch out, a wasp by your ear!”

Cautiously I turned my head a little, saw something yellow-black hovering in front of a flower and managed to grab it out of the air with a quick grab. The flushed eyes widened and raised eyebrows. When I maneuvered three of the creature’s legs between my fingers so that I could clearly see the rest of it with no possibility of escape, the man came closer.

“This is not a wasp,” I said. “This is a fly, a skull hoverfly to be exact, Myathropa florea.”

“He would then be able to fool me.” Nevertheless, he kept some distance, even when I pointed to the drawing on the bust, which, with some fantasy, resembled a skull.

prey

If a predator catches an insect that can sting, it will quickly learn that such prey is unsuitable as a meal. Bees, bumblebees and wasps warn of this with their recognizable markings. Some animals that cannot defend themselves with a stinger make use of it and at first glance look like a stinging insect. That’s called mimicry.

The antennae of this hoverfly are rather short stumps than long blades

Only if you look closely, you will see differences. For example, the antennae of this hoverfly are rather short stumps than long blades. There are species that have longer antennae, but you can still recognize them by the eyes: they are much larger, almost hemispheres that take up a large part of the head. And sometimes fly eyes are red instead of black or brown.

Drifting buzzing sound

Curiosity trumped fear. The man moved a little closer to get a better look at the features I pointed out, but backed away again as the insect tried to fly away from between my fingers. There was a furious buzzing sound, caused by wings moving rapidly up and down. Those wings are the official characteristic that distinguishes hoverflies from sting-bearers. There are, just like with other flies and mosquitoes, two. Wasps, bees and bumblebees have four.

But they are easiest to spot because of their ability to hover in mid-air. The skull-headed hoverfly wrestled its legs from between my fingertips and freed itself. Then he kindly showed what gliders are easiest to identify: their ability to hover in the air. He even stepped it up a notch and lunged at me with a loud buzz before disappearing from view.

“Pure bluff,” the man laughed with relief. “What a sweetheart, really.”

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