Pellucid Hoverfly
Volucella pellucens
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One of our largest hoverflies — black, with a broad ivory-white sash across the middle.
A big, striking hoverfly: glossy black with a broad translucent ivory-white band across the front of the abdomen and dark patches on the wings. It is among the largest hoverflies in Britain. Pellucid hoverflies favour woodland edge, rides, hedgerows and shady gardens around Dumfries, and often hold a sunlit patch a couple of metres up.
Behaviour
Adults hover conspicuously in sunny gaps along woodland paths, males holding station and seeing off rivals. The larval life is remarkable: the female lays in the nests of social wasps and bumblebees, and the larvae live on the nest floor as scavengers and predators, eating debris and dead or dying brood while the colony tolerates them. Adults feed at bramble and umbellifers.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Hoverflies (Syrphidae)
- Size
- 15–16 mm · one of our largest hoverflies
- Status
- Native; common in and around woodland
Photo by Sandy Rae, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons