#3756 · 🪰 flies & mosquitoes

Yellow-haired Sun Fly

🇳🇱 Doodskopzweefvlieg ·Myathropa florea

🪰 Flies & mosquitoes 📍 in the Netherlands

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

what is it?

Myathropa florea is a very common European and North African species of hoverfly. Adults may be seen on flowers from May to September. It is of similar size as the drone fly, but living Myathropa are generally more yellow, with two light bands to the thorax, interrupted with a black central smudge. In museum specimens, any yellow colour soon fades to brown after death. Like most Eristalini, Myathropa are rather variable in size, shape and colour.

base stats

NL sightings 1,434iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 37,221iNaturalist 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 1,434 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: the #5 most seen of the flies & mosquitoes in NL.
37,221 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).