Bee Flies (Bombylidae)

Bee flies

Family Bombyliidae

Tribe Bombylini

The bee-flies are a poorly studied polyphyletic grouping of relatively large, usually hairy flies that eat pollen as well as nectar when adults (like the Family Syrphidae),

but are mostly kleptoparasites on ground-nesting bees, as well as other solitary ground-nesting insects such as beetles and grasshoppers.

The Bombylini have long non-retractable tongues that make them look like tiny hummingbirds as they hover and sip nectar. These fuzzy brown beeflies deposit eggs in the ground nests of solitary Andrenid bees, and the larval flies consume the pollen and nectar set aside for

larval bees.

Tribe Villini

The Villini are quite different than the Bombylini both in form and behavior. Their heads are more fly-like, with short retractable lapping tongues; their legs are short and they rarely visit flowers, but can be found licking pollen in grasses. Poorly studied, the Villini appear to be endoparasites on a wide variety of hosts, including some horseflies, Noctuid moths, darkling beetles, and ant-lions. Female Villini have been observed collecting sand, but the purpose of this behavior remains unclear. Villa have transparent wings with arcuate venation, but Hemipenthes have dark wings and Anthrax, a relative in the Tribe Anthracini, has dark transparent panels in its wings, like stained glass windows.

Bombylius major (Bombylini),

Lopez Island

Villa monoides (Villini),

Iceberg Point, Lopez Island