June 24, 2020
What is That Insect?
The other day I was turning on the hose water up next to the house when I saw a VERY STRANGE insect flying from flower to flower in the nearby flower bed. It had a very long proboscis and was busily harvesting nectar.
What on earth? It was a little over an inch long, with about a wingspan of about 1 1/2 inches as well. The body had a yellow patch near the tail area. It wasn’t, of course, a hummingbird or the moth that can be mistaken for one. The proboscis was…long.
Was it some sort of bee? Or wasp?
No. A bit of quick research showed it to be a Bombylius Major FLY.
They don’t bite, sting, or spread disease. They are harmless to humans. But they are a “parasite bee mimic fly.” They do play a role in pollination. They are parasitic as they do desposit eggs in bee and wasp nests. After hatching, the larvae feed on the bee or wasp grubs.
I should have been an entomologist or a zoologist.
Here’s a link to more information where you can see images of this very interesting FLY:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombylius_major
Louisa Enright's Blog 