HORNET MIMIC HOVERFLY

I have mentioned before that in warm weather a lot of flying insects get trapped in our conservatory.  There are too many to save them all but I catch the big ones in a glass tumbler and release them.  It gives me a real buzz to watch them fly off into freedom instead of drumming their little heads against the window.

This is Volucella zonaria , the Hornet Mimic Hoverfly.  It has two yellow stripes (or is it two black stripes?) on the abdomen and the wings are slightly tinted orange, with a dark bit near the wing tips.

It's the biggest hoverfly in the UK and buzzes quite loudly but is quite harmless to humans.  You can be sure it's not a hornet because all wasps have a narrow 'waist' and this girl doesn't.

We know this one is a female because in the male the eyes meet, while the female's yellow face is wider and separates the eyes.

The females use their hornetty look to nip into hornet and wasp nests to lay their eggs.  But the grubs do not cause the wasps any trouble; they feed on the detritus in the nests.  So the volucella grubs get a good source of food and the wasps get a clean, tidy nest.  Win-Win or Symbiosis as biologists call it !