Furry Dronefly

Eristalis intricaria · Order: Diptera · Family: Syrphidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.

The furry dronefly is a hover-fly with a wing length of about 8 to 12 mm and a densely hairy thorax and abdomen that can be tawny or black. It lives in wetland-type habitats such as raised bogs, fens, marshy woodlands and seasonally flooded grasslands across the Palaearctic from Fennoscandia to central Spain and east into Siberia. Adults fly from early spring to late summer, visit many flowers for nectar, and the larvae develop in wet mud, peat or dung near water.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The thorax and abdomen are covered with long, dense hairs; the typical form shows brownish hairs on male abdomens and blackish hairs with a white-haired last segment on females.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Wing length ranges from about 8.3 mm to 12 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

Found in wetland habitats such as raised bogs, fens, fen carr, poorly drained deciduous forest, humid seasonally flooded grassland, boreal forests, taiga and montane tundra. Also occurs in woodland and marshland areas.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Larvae develop in mud, fen peat beside water, field drains, slurry and cow dung on water-logged ground.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Adults are on the wing from mid-April to the end of August, with some records from March to September in the UK. The larval stage has been illustrated by Hartley (1961).

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Flight time of adults in the UK spans March to September. Overall flight period is mid-April to the end of August.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

It mimics a furry bee and can be confused with Merodon hover-flies, but Merodon have entirely black leg tibiae while the dronefly has partly yellow tibiae.

Source: Wikipedia