The dark-edged bee fly - Bombylius major.

The dark-edged bee fly is one of the earliest bee flies to emerge in the spring.

Now there's a strange-looking beast.  I have written blogs about bee flies before (Black-banded bee fly) and even about the dark-edged bee fly (click here to see my previous post).  I have documented their behaviours as being nectar-feeders as adults but being parasitoids as larvae.  You can read about their life history in my other blogs.

There are two reasons I like this photo.  The first is that it is the best photo of a bee fly that I have ever gotten, and the second reason is that the hairy abdomen and thorax can be clearly seen.  Since these insects emerge so early in the spring, they need to keep their body temperature elevated so they can fly.  When they beat their wings, the muscles release heat.  The heat is insulated because of the hair and allows the bee fly to keep active in cool temperatures.

A strange thing about this bee fly is that is is present throughout much of Europe Russia, Asia, and North America.  It tends to keep to temperate areas and so it is not found in tropical or arid regions.  Instead, they value open areas near woodlands.  I found this one on the path that leads up Knox Mountain in Kelowna where it was sunning itself in a small patch of sunlight that found its way through the trees.

This is the third one I have seen as I found one much earlier in Maple Ridge that I caught and preped for viewing under the microscope.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com