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#3775 · 🪰 flies & mosquitoes

Greater Bee Fly

🇳🇱 Gewone wolzwever ·Bombylius major

🪰 Flies & mosquitoes 📍 in the Netherlands
Greater Bee Fly, photo 1 of 10
1/10 © Nadja Baumgartner · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

De gewone wolzwever ( Bombylius major ) is een vlieg van het geslacht Bombylius uit de familie wolzwevers (Bombyliidae). De soort komt in Nederland en België algemeen voor op zandige en zonnige taluds langs bosranden en in tuinen.

base stats

  • NL sightings 298iNaturalist, research grade
  • worldwide 41,268iNaturalist observations

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

  • Spotted 298 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #24 most seen of the flies & mosquitoes in NL.
  • 41,268 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
  • Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).

fact sheet

English
Greater Bee Fly
Nederlands
Gewone wolzwever
scientific name
Bombylius major
class
Insecta
order
Diptera
family
Bombyliidae
sightings in NL
298
sightings in Europe
20,043
sightings worldwide
41,268
GBIF records in NL
16,690
weight
—
length
—
lifespan
—
named
1758

relatives· Bombyliidae

Sources: iNaturalist taxon 51557, Wikidata Q1549111, GBIF 1670212, Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.

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