Subject: Bee
Geographic location of the bug: California
Date: 04/22/2019
Time: 07:21 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Bee
How you want your letter signed: What kind of bee
This is not a Bee. It is a Hover Fly or Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae, a group that includes many members that mimic stinging Bees and Wasps for protection as the Hover Flies neither sting nor bite, and they benefit from being mistaken by predators for stinging insects. We identified your individual as Eristalinus taeniops on The Natural History of Orange County. The gap between the eyes on your individual identifies her as female.
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination