Hoverflies

A spokesperson for Wildlife Friendly Otley said: “It’s getting quieter at the garden as we head into autumn, but this summer we’ve seen a variety of insects, including meadow brown butterflies, shield bugs, bees and hoverflies.

Bees, butterflies, and hoverflies are vital for crop pollination.

That’s because ivy plants have huge value to wildlife and in late summer, provide a really important source of nectar and pollen for bees, wasps and hoverflies.

There was variation between insect groups, bees and butterflies had shifted in synchrony with the plants, but this wasn't observed in hoverflies.

The that looked at this topic found no evidence for bee viruses in hoverflies.

An extreme example of this trait is in the family Syrphidae (hoverflies), where the bulb of the haltere is positioned nearly perpendicular to the stalk. citation Flies typically hold their halteres at a 90 degree offset.

Animals hatnote Hoverflies mating Most sexually reproducing animals spend their lives as diploid organisms, with the haploid stage reduced to single cell gametes.

Most wallflowers are pollinator-generalists, their flowers being visited by many different species of bees, bee flies, hoverflies, butterflies, beetles, and ants.