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Project Noah Nature School
Episyrphus balteatus
This hoverfly mimics a wasp but it's harmless and even useful. In the larval stage they eat harmful aphids and in the adult stage they harvest flower nectar and help pollination. Hoverflies are easy to distinguish from wasps because flies have very short antennas and achieve stationary flight and sudden direction changes. Wasps on the contrary have long antennas, don't practice stationary flight and can't suddenly change flight directions.
Forrest, on blackberry flowers.
Spotted on Jun 23, 2014
Submitted on Jul 13, 2014
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