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Project Noah Nature School
Toxomerus geminatus
Before I joined this Project a couple of days ago, I would have called this a bee. But after seeing so many pictures that look like bees, but in fact are flies, maybe it's a fly? And I think it's a pollinator because it's sitting in this aster's pollen, but good chance I'm wrong on that count, too!
Meadow along wood's edge in southeastern PA USA
Thank you @misako.hill for the ID and link.
Thank you for the compliments and suggestion @textless and @AshishNimkar. I will have to try the cropping suggestion and see how that might improve the details of this Hover Fly...
And ditto on the thanks to @JuanDiTrani for info on pollinators. I'm learning so much here and really appreciate the collective knowledge on this site!
Hi Mostly,
Not all the insects comming to a flower or feeding on pollen are pollinators. Been pollinators imply the animal is helping the movement from pollen grains to the female parts of the flower. Despite flies can pollinate a few plants, they are lacking structures for carrying pollen. It´s well known the best pollinators are bees.
This is very clear shot.
Can crop this picture and add separate image to get more closer look.
Great spotting..!!
@Mostly Microbe: It is definitely a Hover fly. Possibly Toxomerus geminatus. You can look through the photos on this website and confirm: http://bugguide.net/node/view/8222. If you keep clicking on the species name, the photos will change.
Spotted on Sep 16, 2011
Submitted on Sep 16, 2011
