Look there, on that coneflower…Is it a bee? Is it a wasp? It’s… a hover fly!
With their yellow and black stripes, hover flies (Syrphidae) look similar to other pollinating insects–but look again. Their distinctive eyes and lack of stinger mark them out as true flies. While adults consume pollen and nectar, the small, slug-like larvae are voracious, carnivorous predators! Favored feasts include aphids, caterpillars, leafhoppers, mealy bugs and thrips, and a single larva can eat up to 400 aphids a day. With numbers like these, farmers and gardeners are increasingly taking note and turning to these hungry helpers for assistance with crop pests.
Hover flies provide impressive pollination services as well. Since they don’t have nests to provision, as bees and wasps do, they can range over greater distances, unwittingly carrying pollen much farther than other species. It’s also worth noting that many hover fly species overwinter in leaf litter as pupae, and some species overwinter as adults in sheltered places such as under tree bark. Providing leaf litter and other shelter in gardens can help these beneficial insects survive the winter and return to help control your pests in the spring.
