The author | Brezhi
People see a small yellow and black insect among the flowers, often show a smile, if followed by children, people will also point to the small insect and say to the child: "You see how industrious that little bee is, and it is picking pollen and brewing nectar." ”
Then there's the parent-child education time about hard work and hard work.
However, the person riding the white horse is not necessarily the Tang monk, it may be the bow horse Wen, the pollen is not necessarily the small bee, and it may be the big fly.
This is the aphid fly we are going to introduce today.
Aphid-eating flies ( scientific name : Syrphidae ) belong to the phylum arthropods , insects , winged suborder , diptera , circadianidae , and aphid-eaters.
At first glance, it does look a lot like a bee, with two big eyes, a yellow and black body, and a buzzing flight.
But if you look closely, there is still a difference, the aphid fly, as a member of the order Diptera, has only a pair of forewings, and the hindwings have degenerated into a balance bar. Bees are hymenoptera and have two pairs of four wings.
The antennae of the aphid-eating fly are shorter, and the antennae of the bees are longer.
The hind legs of bees are thick and hairy, and the legs of aphid-eating flies are relatively slender.
Aphid-eating flies are flexible and stable when hovering, and bees often swing from side to side when flying.
Most importantly, bees sting people, and aphid-eating flies do not have this function.
But in order to imitate it more realistically, the aphid-eating fly will also do the stinging action, but it has no practical effect.
The act of dress-up like the aphid-eating fly is biologically called Bayesian mimicry, which refers to a non-toxic species that simulates a poisonous and inedible species in form, color type and behavior, thereby obtaining safety benefits. Similar examples include the non-toxic Vice King Butterfly, which mimics the poisonous black-veined golden-spotted butterfly.
The imitation of bees by aphid-eating flies is typical of the Bee's mimicry. It uses the tiger threat of the bees to scare off potential enemies.
The adult aphid-eating flies eat pollen, while many of the aphid-eating larvae eat aphids, which is also the origin of its name.
In the case of the most common black-banded aphid fly, each larvae can feed on 80 aphids per day during the larval stage, and 400 aphids can be exterminated throughout the larval stage.
However, not all aphid-eating fly larvae eat aphids, and some larvae feed on rotten plants.
However, all adult aphid-eating flies eat pollen, because if they do not eat, the ovaries of adult insects cannot develop, and they cannot complete the great cause of inheritance.
At the turn of the sunny spring and summer, aphid-eating flies flutter among the flowers. Their lifespan is short, with adults only living for two weeks, so mate as much as possible in the hope of leaving offspring behind.
Good times are always short-lived, the mating process of aphid-eating flies is only one second, and after mating, the female will lay her eggs on the back of the aphid-dense plant leaves, creating a good living environment for the baby who has not yet met.
The eggs hatch in two days, and the larvae hatch and concentrate on eating, entering the pupal stage in less than a week, and then feathering into adults after a week of pupalization. Aphid-eating flies can breed five generations a year, and pupae can overwinter.
Due to its large population and strong reproductive capacity, aphid-eating flies are generally the dominant pollinator species in the local area, and plants rely on it even more deeply than bees.
When I went to pick on the weekend, I found aphid-eating flies on many flowers.
Have you ever seen this fly that looks like a bee? Can you recognize it?
Resources:
A preliminary study on the biology of the black-banded aphid fly, Journal of Shanghai Agricultural University, He Jilong, Shen Lijuan
Effects of smoking aphids from different hosts on the growth and development of black-banded aphid flies, authors: Hu Jinfeng; Lin Wei; Chen Zhihou; Xu Qian; Lin Yong; Title: Jiangxi Journal of Agricultural Sciences
Wheat field aphid fly resources, population dynamics and conservation and utilization, authors: Jia Xiuli; Li Feng; Li Hongze Title: Shanxi Agricultural Sciences