Buzz (Bombyliidae) is an insect whose body is covered with thick hairs. Its wings are pulled back sharply, like those of a jet plane. The wing color is smoky, spotted, or less often black. In flight, the wingspan of an adult reaches 20-25 millimeters. The body size of a buzz fly can range from 0.8-30 millimeters. The insect has a well-developed proboscis, which is located on the head, which fits tightly to the body.
The Bombyliidae family has about 3 thousand different species. Often confused with a bee, the fly has significant differences: a dark brown pattern on the wings and a long proboscis.
Among other species of buzz flies, one can distinguish Thevenetimyia spinosavus, which translated means “Spiky Grandfather”. This species is frail; gray bristly hairs can be seen on the chest of its representatives. This type of buzz fly was first discovered on the island of Madagascar. Later they were found by scientists in North America, as well as in northern Africa. These flies prefer to settle in tropical forests, near bodies of water, in pasture meadows and agricultural lands. Buzzers can swarm around animals or people. Therefore, where there are too many insects, the fight against them, as well as the destruction of bedbugs in St. Petersburg , must be decisive.
External signs of a buzz fly
Buzz is an insect with transparent, smoky wings sharply pulled back, like a jet plane. The entire surface of the body is covered with short, dense hairs directed backwards. The fly's head fits tightly to the body and is equipped with a long proboscis.
The body of the buzz fly is short, rounded, almost spherical, 1-1.2 cm in size, including the proboscis; The wingspan is 2.0-2.5 cm.
During flight, the fly often makes intermittent buzzing sounds. This feature served as the name for the entire family - buzzed. Not all flies in this group look beautiful. Bombyliidae has more than 3,000 related species, and among them there are flies that are completely inconspicuous: curved, covered with scales or sparse hairs, or even completely devoid of any outgrowths on the body. The buzzer is mistaken for a bee, but the insect is distinguished by a dark brown pattern on its wings and a long proboscis.
Flies are harmful and beneficial
There are more insects on Earth than all other animals, both in the number of species and in biomass. They are best adapted to living conditions, resistant to radiation, able to survive in hot deserts and remain viable when frozen into ice in a temperate climate, are ready to eat what is not suitable for anyone else, many never drink in their lives (see “Science and life" No., 2017 and No., 2022). Insects are like a parallel world that surrounds us everywhere. But we hardly notice it, unless the representatives of this world are pests, of which there are a minority, but in absolute terms there are many.
The four-striped bighead fly (Conops quadrifasciatus) imitates wasps in color. The front wings are clearly visible, and behind them are the light-colored halteres. The fly feeds on flowers and waits for the bees on which it parasitizes. The fly lays an egg on the bee's body, a larva hatches from it, penetrates the bee and begins to eat it from the inside. The victim is doomed.
Hoverflies have a habit of hovering over flowers and landing on them again. In the photo: Episyrphus sp.
Female hoverfly. Her eyes are located on the sides of her head. Photo taken in Egypt.
Early spring. A male hoverfly with eyes touching on the crown of the head (probably Eristalinus sp.) feeds on a coltsfoot flower.
Eyes of a horsefly (probably a female Hybomitra sp.).
Sand wasp (Crabronidae) on a chickweed flower.
A sirf fly imitating a wasp.
The sirph larva eats aphids.
Volucella bumblebee. Black and yellow color option. Reminiscent of the ground bumblebee and other similar species.
Volucella bumblebee. Black and red color option. Resembles the stone bumblebee and the lesser stone bumblebee.
Large buzzer (Bombylius major). The female hovers above the ground and periodically descends to lay an egg on the soil.
Green carrion fly Lucilius. At high magnification you can see how unusually colored it is. The light formation behind the wing is the haltere.
November. The blue calliphora carrion fly is one of the last insects to remain active before the onset of winter.
The Lafria beetle sucks out a poisonous soft-bodied beetle.
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All insects are relatively small. They are covered with an exoskeleton and breathe using tracheas - air tubes that connect to all parts of the body. With such an organization, an animal the size of a dog simply will not be able to move or breathe, so all arthropod monsters from works of fiction are a figment of the imagination of authors of non-science fiction.
The largest number of beetles on Earth are beetles, or Coleoptera; there are almost 400 thousand species of them (for comparison, there are about 5 thousand species of mammals). In second place are flies. They, together with mosquitoes, are combined into a separate large group, a detachment. Its exact name is diptera (Diptera). The number of fly species is almost half that, about 200 thousand. But this is the most advanced order in evolutionary terms. The life success of flies is associated with their rapid flight and variety of larval nutrition. Many are able to make do with manure and various rotting waste; there are also predators and parasites.
Initially, natural selection gave insects four wings. But in the process of evolution, flies have only two front ones left (that’s why they are called dipterans), and the rear ones have turned into small flask-shaped appendages, the so-called halteres, which vibrate at high frequency. They are the ones who create the sound of a fly flying. The halteres help maintain balance, and also tune the nerve centers that control flight and provide instant take-off. No one can fly as quickly and easily as a fly. Many other high-flying insects, such as bees, wasps and butterflies, are also functionally dipterous - their front and rear wings are linked into a single unit and work synchronously. But in terms of flight maneuverability they are inferior to flies.
Most people have a deliberately hostile attitude towards flies. And all because of one single species - the housefly (Musca domestica), which, although it does not bite (its soft proboscis, in principle, is not suitable for this), is very annoying and spreads infection. In temperate latitudes there is a similar relative, the autumn fly (Stomoxys calcitrans). All she can do is bite with her needle-like proboscis, but she is not able to lick droplets of moisture, like a housefly.
Let's move to the spring meadow, where the first bright yellow coltsfoot flowers appeared. These flowers are the “first swallow” that “makes spring.” Plants and insects are inseparable. And where there are flowers, there are nectar lovers - ants, small solitary bees and various flies, primarily syrphidae (the Latin name of the family is Syrphidae), or hoverflies. They were named so for the murmuring sound they make in flight. They can hover in the air and make sharp throws to the sides, for which in English they are called hoverflies - hovering flies. There are more than 6 thousand species of syrphids in the world, about 800 in Russia.
Like all insects - good flyers, the hoverfly's eyes occupy most of its head. They are usually plain, brown or reddish. However, the species that I met in the spring clearing on the coltsfoot has light eyes, with dark spots, characteristic of representatives of the genus Eristalinus. Before this, over dozens of years of observations, I had never come across such hoverflies, but I saw them at a resort in Egypt. The hotels there are surrounded by artificially created oases on the desert coast. Plants are watered, and all small living creatures, including potential pests, are exterminated by fumigation with pesticides. But even with such total extermination, the syrphids survive. It’s difficult to understand where they get such stability.
A peculiarity of hoverflies and some other insects is that males and females can be distinguished by their eyes. In male hoverflies they meet at the crown of the head, while in females there is a clear gap between the eyes at the top. Apparently, males have sharper vision. This is understandable, because the male needs to identify his chosen one in flight. The hoverfly I photographed in a clearing on the coltsfoot turned out, oddly enough, to be a male with eyes touching, although it is assumed that usually only the females survive the winter in adult flies. The male undoubtedly overwintered as an adult and was one of the first to emerge in the spring. Surely there were females somewhere nearby. In general, syrphid flies, depending on the species, can overwinter as adult flies, as well as larvae or pupae.
Patterned eyes are found in flies in different families, such as some horse flies. Perhaps the pattern on the eyes helps flies recognize each other when mating. But this is nothing more than a guess.
Many hoverflies resemble stinging hymenoptera - bees and wasps with bright warning colors. The phenomenon when an edible species evolutionarily imitates an inedible or well-protected one is called Batesian mimicry. It was described in 1852 by the English naturalist and traveler Henry Bates. Various species (and not only among hoverflies) are colored black and yellow stripes. They imitate wasps. I watched as harmless syrphus flies (Syrphus spp.) flew around the flowers of chickweed, and then a large-headed wasp armed with a sting from the family of so-called sand wasps, or crabronids (Crabronidae, recently classified as a single family of burrowing wasps - Sphecidae) sat down nearby.
There is no doubt that flies evolutionarily imitate wasps so that birds are afraid of them (spiders and other invertebrate predators eat flies, wasps, and bees with the same appetite, regardless of their color or the presence of a sting). Thus, flies seem to be parasitic on their formidable role models. However, there are many more flies than wasps and bees. This is impossible with parasites; there must always be fewer of them than those on whom they parasitize. Otherwise the idea itself loses its meaning. If an inexperienced bird catches a tasty striped fly for the first time, it will not be afraid of the combination of black and yellow colors, at least until it encounters a wasp. And is a bird capable of catching a hoverfly? This fly flies too well. Maybe the color of the flies is a different kind of warning: “Don’t waste your energy!”
The larvae of flies are not at all similar to adults; most often they are soft worm-like creatures, deprived not only of legs, but also of a head. Some feed on manure, others on plant debris or look for food in the bottom silt in puddles. The larvae of wasp sirphs are predators. The absence of a head does not prevent them from hunting living organisms. The female lays eggs near a colony of aphids, which her offspring eat. Moving slowly inside the colony, the larva sucks out one aphid after another. By exterminating aphids, hoverflies bring benefits.
The bumblebee hoverfly, or Volucella bombylans, imitates bumblebees (the species name “bombylans” is consonant with the Latin name of the bumblebee genus - Bombus). The large fluffy fly really looks like a bumblebee. At the same time, it parasitizes bumblebee nests. The female enters the nest, having previously exposed her ovipositor, and immediately lays eggs. And here's what's surprising: Volucella has different color forms, reminiscent of the coloration of different types of bumblebees. Previously, it was believed that mimicry helps the fly avoid aggression from the owners of the nest. But no. A bumblebee, if it detects a fly, kills it. However, even in a dead volucella, the ovipositor continues to reflexively contract, expelling the eggs. This is how the fly achieves its goal, even at the cost of its own life. The larvae live in the debris at the bottom of the nest, eating various organic debris. But they can also eat the host larva. For some reason, bumblebees tolerate fly larvae.
Some buzz flies, or bombyliids (Bombyliidae, the Latin name of the family is also similar to the name of the bumblebee genus - Bombus), also resemble small bumblebees. Like syrphids, buzzers are one of the best flyers in the insect world, perhaps even taking first place in their ability to soar in the air. The buzzers of many species have a long, non-retractable proboscis, longer than the body (completely different from that of syrphids). The owners of such proboscis feed on nectar, hovering over the flower, sometimes only slightly leaning on the nearest petal with their front paws. If you're lucky, you can also watch how the fly hovers for a long time near the ground and periodically touches the soil with the tip of its abdomen. This is how a female lays eggs behaves. The eggs hatch into thin, mobile larvae that independently search for the burrows of earth bees (andren, galicts). Once in the burrow, the larva molts and changes its shape - it becomes fat and inactive. This is nothing more than hypermetamorphosis - an excessive series of transformations, including two different forms of larvae. In someone else's nest, the fly larva eats bee larvae, which are also inactive and unable to defend themselves. It is sometimes said that buzzers parasitize bees. But if the victim always dies, then this is no longer parasitism, but predation.
The family of carrion flies, or blue carrion (meat) flies, or calliphoridae (Calliphoridae) includes very noticeable green carrion flies. Carrion larvae, as their name suggests, develop in carrion - animal corpses, as well as in garbage dumps and cesspools. But there are also parasites.
The brightest and most numerous green carrion flies are representatives of the genus Lucilia. There are dozens of species, which only a specialist can distinguish. All of them are metallic shiny with a tint of different colors, from bronze-red to cool blue. Their eyes are red or red-brown. Green and red are complementary colors; they are perceived next to each other as the most contrasting. Lucilias land everywhere and are defiantly visible everywhere. They seem to provoke birds, but do not seem to suffer from their bright colors. Why green carrion flies are so brightly colored is unknown.
Let's also mention blue blowflies from the family of the same name. These flies are indeed blue, larger and less bright than green ones. They belong to the genus Calliphora. Having flown into the room, calliphora torments those around with its deep buzzing. Quite heavy, it flaps its wings less often than its small counterparts, whose flapping frequency reaches hundreds of hertz and the sound is higher. Calliphora is cold-resistant. It overwinters as an adult, in the fall it is able to fly even at zero, and in the spring it appears earlier than other competing flies.
Adult flies feed primarily on flowers or consume the same substrate that the larvae eat. But among flies there are also real predators that attack other insects. Some of them are ktyrs (Asilidae). There are about 6 thousand species of them, like hoverflies. But we rarely notice them, because they do not fly by color and are mostly colored rather modestly. The appearance of moths is very different from the appearance of hoverflies, calliphorids and other common flies. An elongated body, as if directed forward, shaggy legs, a head with huge eyes and a sharp, strong proboscis, and something like a beard in the front. In English, robber flies are called robber flies. Usually the ktyr sits on an elevated perch and surveys the surroundings. Grabs any moving victim, both in the air and from the ground. The furry legs hold the prey, and the poisonous stab from the proboscis instantly kills it. The sting is so effective because the ktyr injects a potent neurotoxin into the prey. Then, using the same proboscis, the ktyr introduces digestive juices and enzymes into the already dead victim, which dissolve the tissue. After this, the predator can only suck out the finished nutrient broth. Such extraintestinal digestion occurs in the larvae of carrion flies, and in some other insects, as well as in all spiders. During a leisurely meal, chicks often sit on sun-warmed surfaces, where they usually catch our eye. This predator, of course, cannot attack a person. However, there are unverified rumors that if you grab a ktyr with your hand, it can bite very painfully.
Most often, blackbirds catch other flies, but I saw and photographed a large blackbird from the genus Laphria, which was eating a fire beetle (soft beetle). Birds do not eat these beetles because their blood contains the poisonous alkaloid cantharidin. But for a robber fly such prey is quite suitable.
And how many little things remain! In nature, you can see inconspicuous gray flies on almost every flower and leaf. They are beneficial by pollinating flowers, and are very resistant to bad weather, even flying in the rain. Drosophila fruit flies often appear everywhere, including in city apartments. They are attracted to the smell of fruit and alcohol, as fly larvae develop in rotting and fermenting fruit.
Of course, it is impossible to talk about all flies in one article. There are a great many of them, and some of them are useful. Now, knowing this, many will look at flies with completely different eyes.
Food buzzers
The buzzer collects food, hanging over a flower, then maneuvers towards the next inflorescence, and repeats such movements many times. Like the bumblebee, this insect also feeds on sweet flower juice, extracting it from nectaries with a long, needle-like proboscis. Abundant food is absolutely necessary for the restless fly to replenish the reserves of proteins and carbohydrates necessary for the development and maturation of eggs in the female’s abdomen. The buzzer larva feeds on the larvae of bees, wasps, and grasshoppers.
There are 5,300 species of buzz flies common in nature.
What is sound?
Before you can figure out how a fly buzzes, you need to understand what the sound that the human ear hears is. If you remember your school physics course, it will become clear that sound is the vibration of air with a certain frequency.
If you lightly touch the side of the glass with a teaspoon, you will hear a ringing sound. The human eye is not able to notice how the air vibrates, but the ear will catch this change. You can also consider another example, a guitar string. In this case, you can not only hear, but also see how it moves.
Important: the human ear hears sound only at a certain frequency.
The same thing happens in the animal world. A fly or other winged pest causes the air to vibrate, as a result of which a person hears a buzzing sound. It remains only to understand how flies make the air vibrate.
Reproduction of the buzz fly
The number of eggs laid by buzzers ranges from 20-30 in some types of flies, to one and a half thousand in others. The eggs are white, brown, gray, elliptical. A size of 1 mm is already considered huge. During the egg-laying period, females fly very low - at a distance of 30-50 cm from the soil surface, maneuvering among grass and branches of bushes. As soon as the fly notices a suitable crack in the soil, on the bark, or the desired leaf, it descends and accurately throws a small egg at the target. Females of some buzzer species are excellent masters of precision bombing. When throwing an egg into the hole of a beetle, flies rarely miss.
This is how buzzers, which have a large number of eggs, reproduce. If there are only 20-30 of them, then the female sits on the soil and uses the tip of her abdomen, equipped with strong spines, to drill a hole and lay several eggs into it at once.
After 2 days, a small 1 mm, legless larva appears. With the help of long and hard bristles on the chest and tail, it moves in search of food. These are locust capsules filled with eggs, “housing” of cutworm caterpillars, beetle larvae or horseflies.
Female buzzards “throw” eggs into the burrows of beetles and other insects.
The buzzer larva grows quickly. Soon, from 2-3 dozen locust eggs, not a single one will be left, and the predator, having grown fat on someone else’s bread, will fill the entire egg capsule and will remain in it for the winter. With the onset of spring, the larva turns into a pupa, and the resting stage begins. After some time, the larva, wriggling with its whole body and resting on its bristles and spines, makes its way from the soil to the surface in order to throw off its hard chitinous cover and become a beautiful fast fly.
The buzzer, which hunts for larvae and caterpillars, behaves differently. The larva, having emerged from the egg, sometimes lies in wait for a very long time for the victim - the cutworm caterpillar - and bites into its prey, remaining quiet there for the time being.
The Secret of the Buzz
To reveal the secret of an insect's buzzing, you need to pay attention to its body structure. The fly has 2 pairs of wings. Moreover, she only needs one pair to fly. The remaining wings are designed to coordinate movement. They are called halteres.
During flight, a fly makes more than 200 strokes in one second. As a result, air vibrations occur, which the human ear hears. The halteres move at the same frequency as the wings, only in the opposite direction. Thanks to this, the winged pest can move up and down.
An insect like a fly is capable of flying sideways and upside down, and sometimes in the opposite direction. That is why it zigzags and it is impossible to determine its route. Thanks to the movements made, the insect easily escapes pursuit.
Important: a fly deprived of a haltere will cease to orient itself in space, and therefore will not be able to fly.
Even without wings, the pest continues to live. Of course, the insect will stop making a nasty sound, but it will not cause any less harm.
The little one was buzzing
The fly is 0.7-1.1 cm long. The body is covered with thick gray-yellow hairs, the legs are yellow. The length of the proboscis exceeds half the length of the body. The wings are transparent, devoid of dark spots, and there are no light longitudinal stripes on the pronotum.
It is found in the center of the European part of Russia, in Western Europe, the Caucasus, North Africa, and Asia Minor. Rare view.
Small buzzer (Bombylius minor).
Multi-colored buzzing
The fly is 1.0-1.6 cm long. The body is densely covered with yellow hairs, the length of the proboscis exceeds half the length of the body. The upper part of the abdomen is covered with thick black hairs. On the mesonotum there is a spot in the shape of the Latin letter “V”, covered with brown hairs. The wings are darkened and spotted. Lives in Central and Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Caucasus. Rare view.
The multi-colored buzzer is widespread, mainly in dry tropical and subtropical zones.
What features does a fly have?
Buzzing is not the only characteristic of flies. They are very active, and their reaction is 10 times higher than that of a human. This is why it is quite difficult to catch an insect.
As for the body features, the fly has a very mobile head. This directly affects her reaction. On the head there are eyes with a complex structure. Each eye has about 3,000 small eyes.
Fertility is also worth noting. The female is capable of laying 600 eggs at a time. Scientists conducted a study and proved that a fly is capable of laying up to 2 billion eggs over the summer. This doesn't happen in real life. This is due to the fact that flies often die. There are many reasons why pests die. Most often they are:
- get caught in a web;
- become dinner for birds;
- die at the hands of man.
Important: flies are not only capable of annoying with their buzzing, but can also cause a lot of trouble to a person.
To prevent insects from annoying you with their buzzing, you need to get rid of them in a timely manner.
Buzzing Stykticus
Large spherical insect, size up to 1.6 cm. Head with a long proboscis. The antennae are black, with a 3rd elongated segment. The chest is black with a dense fluffy pattern of black and white hairs.
Legs black, covered with bristly hairs. The abdomen is black, covered with black hairs with rows of dots of white hairs. The species lives in North Africa, Central and Southern Europe, the south of the European part of the Russian Federation, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
On the chest of Stykticus there is a characteristic fluffy pattern of black and white hairs.
Humming tone
Every person, at least once in his life, has noticed that flies buzz in different ways. One is louder, the other is quieter. Biologists have conducted research and found that the tone of the buzzing is influenced by:
- Body size.
- Wing flapping frequency.
- The room in which the pest is located.
A large insect has larger wings. Therefore, they capture a larger area of air and a person hears the buzzing more clearly. For example, small midges cannot be heard because they are too small. A similar fact applies to all winged insects, with the exception of the butterfly. It is impossible to hear her waves.
The frequency of the wing flapping also plays an important role in tone. The faster the insect works with its halteres, the more the air vibrates.
A person most often pays attention to an annoying buzzing sound in an apartment or other room. If there are few things in the room, the sound made by the wings will be louder. The vibrating air diverges evenly, without fading when colliding with other objects.
Important: any fly can buzz while sitting on a window or other surface, that is, it does not have to fly.
This is due to the fact that she does not see the obstacle and is trying to take off. The same applies if the insect is injured.
