Hoverflies, also called flower flies or syrphids, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, while the larvae (maggots) eat a wide range of foods. In some species, the larvae are saprotrophs, eating decaying plant and animal matter in the soil or in ponds and streams. In other species, the larvae are insectivores and prey on aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.
Insects such as aphids are considered crop pests, and therefore the aphid-eating larvae of some hoverflies are economically and ecologically important predator and potential agents for use in biological control, while the adults are pollinators.
About 6,000 species in 200 genera have been described. Hoverflies are common throughout the world and can be found on all continents except Antarctica. Hoverflies are harmless to most mammals, though many species are mimics of stinging wasps and bees, a mimicry which may serve to ward off predators.
Hoverfly hovering behavior is unlike that of hummingbirds since they do not feed in midair. Hovering in general may be a means of finding a food source; in addition, male hovering is often a territorial display seeking females,[1]
while female hovering serves to inspect ovipositing sites. [2][3][4]
Adult hoverflies often hover over the plants they visit
Eupeodes fumipennis
Eupeodes volucris
Helophilus fasciatus
Syritta pipiens
A hoverfly on flowers in Japan
^Collett, T.S.; Land, M.F. (September 1978). "How hoverflies compute interception courses". Journal of Comparative Physiology. 125 (3). Springer-Verlag: 191–204. doi:10.1007/BF00656597.
^Almohamad, Raki; Verheggen, François J.; HaubrugeUniv, Éric (2009). "Searching and oviposition behavior of aphidophagous hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae): a review". Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Société et Environnement. 13 (3): 467–481.
^Vera Strader. "Hover Flies, a Gardener's Friend" (PDF). University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.
destroy crops, and hoverfly maggots are often used in biological control. This includes one of the most common widespread hoverfly species, Episyrphus...
sometimes referred to as the Batman hoverfly, is a very common European and North African species of hoverfly. Adults may be seen on flowers from May...
Episyrphus balteatus, sometimes called the marmalade hoverfly, is a relatively small hoverfly (9–12 mm) of the Syrphidae family, widespread throughout...
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XR-1 (experimental helicopter) Sikorsky R-4B "Hoverfly" (general helicopter) Sikorsky YR-4B "Hoverfly", version of R-4, known as HNS-1 in Navy service...
usage: the Western wood-vase hoverfly and the Moccas hoverfly Stubbs, Alan E. & Falk, Steven J. (1983). British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification...
with many hoverflies resembling bees and wasps, ants and some species of tephritid fruit fly resembling spiders. Some species of hoverfly are myrmecophilous—their...
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Kent (November 2011). "Floral resources enhance aphid suppression by the hoverfly Eupeodes fumipennis". Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting 2011...
A. ursinum is the primary larval host plant for a specialised hoverfly, ramsons hoverfly (Portevinia maculata). The flowers are pollinated by bees. Allium...
| National Air and Space Museum". Retrieved 2024-02-03. "Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly". National Museum of the United States Air Force™. Retrieved 2024-02-03...
Melangyna viridiceps is an Australian hoverfly, known as the common hover fly. It is one of the two most common hoverflies in Australia, alongside Simosyrphus...
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largest producer of helicopters in the U.S. during the war by making the A Hoverfly II, the most advanced helicopter design of the war. Other wartime products...
commercially managed hives of honey bees. The analysis of 353 wild bee and hoverfly species across Britain from 1980 to 2013 found the insects have been lost...
Global Information
Eupeodes fumipennis
Eupeodes volucris
Helophilus fasciatus
Syritta pipiens
