The Hoverfly
Most of us are very familiar with the hoverfly. Their flight patterns are very recognizable and have flustered generations of photographers attempting to get one in flight. As they stay in the same place for short periods of time, it is very tempting to try to get a picture of one in flight. This photographer was tempting by one over the weekend. Alas, the hoverfly one and I wound up with all of one out of focus picture that was quickly deleted. Still, I managed to get a few half way decent ones of the hoverfly landed.
![](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3144/2514092246_bc40fcef1a_o.jpg" width="800" height="533" alt="Hoverfly" /></a>)
I don’t like the white background at all in this shot, but I had to take what the fly provided. I tried photographing another two other hoverflies in more photogenic areas but none of the shots turned out. Note that whenever taking insects on a white background, make sure to dial up the MT-24EX a stop or two. Otherwise the picture will show up as too dark due to the metering in the camera. This picture is close to the brightness of the original, but previous shots I took were too dark.
After reading a bit though, I never knew how beneficial these flies truly are.
As larva, hoverflies are very beneficial and many of them eat aphids. A number of them also live in mud and dung but they seem to clean themselves up very well in the adult stage. As adults, many hoverflies (of the family Syrphidae) feed on nectar and many are beneficial pollinators of plants and flowers. Therefore these are one bug you do not want to swat.
Interestingly, many hoverflies practice mimicry – or more precisely – making themselves looking like bees and wasps. This discourages predators from attacking them due to fear of their sting. Some hoverflies are so good at this deception that I have questioned how close I should get.
![](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2070/2513267173_ba15734e7f_o.jpg" width="800" height="533" alt="Hoverfly" /></a>)
Despite their similarities, hoverflies are in the order Diptera (along with house flies) and bees and wasps are in the order Hymenoptera (along with ants). Therefore the similarities for the most part are strictly on the outside. For example, hoverflies don’t sting – making them even better photography subjects.
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Tags: diptera, fly, hoverfly, macro, mimicry, photography
That is a great example of Batesian mimicry, where one harmless animal tries to look like a harmful one to escape from predators.
Neat shot, the detail is wonderful in this, well done !!
Great detail, Joe. Too bad Flickr says the full size photo is unavailable.