What's Your Nature?

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Bumblebee Robber Fly!

Posted by Kayla Edmunds,
North Country explorer from Piffard, NY
June 30, 2023

Visited by a bumblebee robber fly at the canton farmers market! These flies are cleverly disguised as bees with their yellow and black coloration and fuzzy bodies - but a closer look and a few clues will give away their status as flies (members of the Diptera order). First - this guy only has one pair of wings. Bees have two pairs! He’s got short antennae, and his eyes are more round whereas bees generally have oval shaped eyes. Finally the giveaway that this isn’t just any fly, but a robber fly - the mustache (technical name: mystax, a collection of stuff bristles on the face). Robber flies are incredible predatory flies that eat mainly other insects by waiting in ambush and catching them in flight!!