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Bee Fly

uncommon

Bee Fly

Bombylius major

Habitat
Spring meadows across Eurasia and North America
Body length
12 mm
Order
Diptera · Bombyliidae

Weird but real

Looks exactly like a fluffy bumblebee but is actually a fly. Hovers like a hummingbird and sips nectar with a needle-long proboscis.

Why it's cool

Cosplays as a bee for predator protection without being able to sting. Pure aesthetic mimicry. The bee-fashion is so good it works on the predators it evolved against.

Photographs

Large bee fly
Vera Buhl · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
Bee Fly. Bombylius major
gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0 · source