''Volucella inanis'' is a species of

hoverfly Hover flies, also called flower flies or syrphid flies, make up the insect family Syrphidae. As their common name suggests, they are often seen hovering or nectaring at flowers; the adults of many species feed mainly on nectar and pollen, whil ...

belonging to the family Syrphidae.

Distribution

This species is present in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, in eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sib ...

, in the Near East and in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

Description

The adults reach long. They have three yellow bands on an otherwise black abdomen and thus closely resemble

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

s in a form of mimicry. The first two bands are completely or partially interrupted by a black wedge. The head has feather-like antennae and the

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

have darkened patches in the middle and on the tip.

Biology

''Volucella inanis'' can be encountered from early July to early September, feeding on flowers of species such as yarrow (''

Achillea millefolium ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...

''), dill (''

Anethum graveolens Dill (''Anethum graveolens'') is an annual herb in the celery family Apiaceae. It is the only species in the genus ''Anethum''. Dill is grown widely in Eurasia, where its leaves and seeds are used as a herb or spice for flavouring food. Growth ...

''), heather (''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * ''Erica'' (spider), a jumping spider genus * E ...

'' species), thistles (genera '' Carduus'', ''

Cirsium ''Cirsium'' is a genus of perennial and biennial flowering plants in the Asteraceae, one of several genera known commonly as thistles. They are more precisely known as plume thistles. These differ from other thistle genera (''Carduus'', '' Sily ...

'', and ''

Onopordum ''Onopordum'', or cottonthistle, is a genus of plants in the tribe Cardueae within the family Asteraceae. They are native to southern Europe, northern Africa, the Canary Islands, the Caucasus, and southwest and central Asia. They grow on disturb ...

'') and ''

Buddleja davidii ''Buddleja davidii'' (spelling variant ''Buddleia davidii''), also called summer lilac, butterfly-bush, or orange eye, is a species of flowering plant in the family (biology), family Scrophulariaceae, native plant, native to Sichuan and Hubei pro ...

''. The female lays eggs in the nests of social wasps and hornets (''

Vespa crabro The European hornet (''Vespa crabro'') is the largest eusocial wasp native to Europe. It is also the only true hornet (genus ''Vespa'') found in North America, having been introduced to the United States and Canada from Europe as early as 1840. ...

'', ''

Vespula germanica ''Vespula germanica'', the European wasp, German wasp, or German yellowjacket, is a species of wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to Europe, Northern Africa, and temperate Asia. It has spread and become well-established in ma ...

'', etc.). The larvae of this hoverfly are ectoparasites of larvae of the wasps.

References

External links

*
Biolib

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1497291 Diptera of Africa Diptera of Asia Diptera of Europe Volucella Insects described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus