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Bev Wigney | all galleries >> Flies - Diptera >> Hover Flies -- Syrphidae > flower fly (family Syrphidae) with sticky pollen packets from milkweed flowers
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16-July-2004

flower fly (family Syrphidae) with sticky pollen packets from milkweed flowers

UTM 18T 0378739, 4950107 - Long Bay Rd.

Regarding the yellow things stuck to this fly, entomologist friend ,Eric Eaton, posted this note:
This is a flower fly (family Syrphidae), that has visited a milkweed.
The yellow things are the unique, sticky pollen packets that milkweed flowers have. Some insects
become so entangled in these things that they die.


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Bev Wigney31-Jul-2004 13:01
Thanks for that info! I'm so used to seeing mites on various insects that that's what I thought the yellow things clinging to the feet were!
Guest 30-Jul-2004 23:42
This is a flower fly (family Syrphidae), that has visited a milkweed! Those aren't mites, but the unique, sticky pollen packets that milkweed flowers have. Some insects become so entangled in these things that they die.