bee fly

bee fly, any insect of the family Bombyliidae (order Diptera). Many resemble bees, and most have long proboscises (feeding organs) that are used to obtain nectar from flowers. Their metallic brown, black, or yellow colour is attributable to a covering of dense hair; in many species the body and sometimes the wings bear patches of delicate and easily abraded scales. Some bee flies are quite small, and their immature stages are unknown. Many species, including the largest and most showy, are tropical; but some species with a length of more than 1 cm (0.4 inch) live in temperate regions. They are usually found on flowers around sunny, grassy places.

The larvae of Bombylius major, the large bee fly of the Northern Hemisphere and one of the earliest to appear in spring, are parasitic on solitary bees. Larvae of several species of Villa destroy grasshopper eggs; others are parasitic on caterpillars. Anthrax anale is a parasite of tiger beetle larvae, and the European A. trifasciata is a parasite of the wall bee. Several African species of Villa and Thyridanthrax are parasitic on the covering of the pupa of tsetse flies. Villa (Hemipenthes) morio is parasitic on the beneficial ichneumonid, Banchus femoralis. Some bee mimics in the family Syrphidae are also known as bee flies.