It is about double the size of a Honey bee ( Maybe even a little more then that) and I have seen it biting at the other bees but also drinking from the flowers? Not the greatest photos as there were tons of bees at the flowers and so I made these quick shots...
#2..
It's a Syrphid fly, they can parasitise bees.
Thanks wallaby1!
It is very distinctive in it's pattern so 'shouldn't' be too difficult to find which one, but I can't see one like it in the thumbnails on bugguide. There's more links at the bottom,
http://bugguide.net/index.php?q=search&keys=syrphidae&search=Search
wallaby1, I found it here....
http://mint.ippc.orst.edu/syrphid.htm
Seems to be a good guy for the garden
This message was edited Sep 30, 2008 4:05 PM
Sorry Iris, I don't see yours on that page! The larva of some do eat aphids.
You don't think those were it on that page? ...Looked a lot like it.
Nowhere near, lol, take a closer look at yours. When you've looked at them a lot more you will see a big difference.
your right, I do see a difference, It's amazing how close they can seem!
This is a Yellowjacket Hover Fly (Milesia virginiensis), I just saw one recently posted, lol.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/7915/
Thansk wallaby..Links not working for me though
It's working for me, just go to BugFiles and search for Milesia in the 'genus' and you should get it.
Found it! Yes, Looks like it! Thankyou again!
IRIS, was your fly also a loud buzzer? ha!
I had quite a neat experience with mine. Me and two of my kids were outside at a workbench, and this fly came up - hovering very "helicopter-style" very straight, left and right motion, up and down motion, from side to side, up and down checking each of us out. I had to keep telling my kids, this is a fly - don't run. but, I only got a brief chance to take it's picture before it was off again. They are a beautiful bug. !
Here's what Bugguide says about them:
This fly is believed to be a mimic of the Southern Yellowjacket, Vespula squamosa.
Flies aggressively and buzzes like a hornet. In the southern United States, sometimes called the news bee or good news bee for its habit of hovering in front of a person and "giving them the news". It is also said to be good luck if one can get the insect to perch on a finger, no doubt because this is difficult to do. A related bit of folklore is that a bee buzzing in the ear is a sign that important news will soon arrive.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/2837
