Hover Flies (Syrphidae)

Hover Flies (or Flower Flies, if you are American) belong to a big family of small to big flies. They are among the most frequent visitors to flowers in the garden. In Holland and Belgium alone over 300 species exist! In summer the majority is seen in sometimes great numbers mixing with butterflies, bees, bumble bees and other flower adorers. Their strikingly swift flight, the standing still on flight and, in some species, their size are remarkable. Some hover flies are among the biggest flies of Central Europe. Many species are very colourful as well. Yet it is not always that easy to identify them being hover flies. Some thick-headed flies and bee flies are quite similar. Besides some hover flies are very dark creatures and these colours makes it hard to identify them correctly. In order to be sure the animal you are looking at is a hover fly indeed, one has to look at the veins in the wing and compare those with the picture below. In hover flies a great part of the edge of the wing is without veins. The vein running all te way to the edge in most flies, only reaches the last transverse vein, not the edge in hover flies (A). Another feature of hover flies is the so-calles 'floating vein' (B). This vein just ends nowhere. Usually veins end either at the edge of the wing or in another vein. Both these features being present means you are actually looking at a hover fly.