ENY 3005 Family Identification

Diptera: Bombyliidae

 Common name: bee flies

Identifying characteristics for the family Bombyliidae include:

• Medium- to large-sized flies, usually stoutbodied and hairy, often resembling bees.
• Antennae 3-segmented (suborder Brachycera), 3rd segment not annulated.
• Many species with a long and slender proboscis.
• Wings distinctive: often patterned or spotted; vein M1 ending behind wing tip; 3 or 4 posterior cells.

• About 750 species in North America.
• Adults feed on nectar and pollen; often seen on flowers or hovering over vegetation or bare ground.
• Larvae prey on eggs and immatures of other insects.

References:

• Page 278 and plate 13 in D. J. Borror and R. E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.
• Page 338 in R. G. Bland and H. E. Jaques. 1978. How to Know the Insects, 3rd ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Co. 409 p.
• Page 555 in D. J. Borror, C. A. Triplehorn, and N. F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders College Publishing. 875 p.
• Pages 505-513 in H. V. Daly, J. T. Doyen, and A. H. Purcell III. 1998. Introduction to Insect Biology and Diversity, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. 680 p.

Links to other web sites

• Bombyliidae -- by David K. Yeates