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The adult fly is about 15 mm (6/10 of an inch) in length. Although it superficially resembles a honey bee, it can be easily differentiated from a honey bees because it does not have a constricted "waist" between the thorax and the abdomen. [6] Also, being a fly, it only has two wings whereas bees have four wings. [6]
Adults of Eristalis species such as the common drone fly (E. tenax) and the orange-legged drone fly (E. flavipes) are pollen and nectar feeders with hairy bodies capable of picking up and transferring pollen, and may act as keystone pollinators in some systems. [13]
Adults favour sunny conditions and dry, often sandy or rocky areas. They have powerful wings and are found typically in flight over flowers or resting on the bare ground exposed to the sun ( watch video ) They significantly contribute to cross pollination of plants, becoming the main pollinators of some plant species of desert environments.
Adult tabanids feed on nectar and plant exudates, and some are important pollinators of certain specialised flowers; [19] several South African and Asian species in the Pangoniinae have spectacularly long probosces adapted for the extraction of nectar from flowers with long, narrow corolla tubes, such as Lapeirousia, [31] and certain Pelargonium.
Adult Therevidae are small- to medium-sized with a body length of 2.4 to 18 mm and a hairy integument. The coloration ranges from shades of yellow to black, but commonly the background colour is masked by the tomentum. The compound eyes are generally larger in males, which in many species are actually holoptic.
An adult crane fly, resembling an oversized male mosquito, typically has a slender body and long, stilt-like legs that are deciduous, easily coming off the body. [12] [2] Like other insects, their wings are marked with wing interference patterns which vary among species, thus are useful for species identification. [13]
Most species are not synanthropic. Adults can be predatory, hematophagous, saprophagous, or feed on a number of types of plant and animal exudates. They can be attracted to various substances including sugar, sweat, tears and blood. Larvae occur in various habitats including decaying vegetation, dry and wet soil, nests of insects and birds ...
Before becoming adults, nymphs will leave the water, attach to a fixed surface and molt one last time. The adults generally only survive for a few weeks, and emerge only during specific times of the year when resources are optimal. Some do not feed at all, but those that do are herbivorous. [6]