The yellow jacket hover fly, also known as the good news bee, is an intriguing insect that you may come across in various parts of the United States. Resembling a yellow jacket or hornet, this species, scientifically known as Milesia virginiensis, is quite harmless and does not possess the ability to sting.
It’s worth taking a closer look at this fascinating creature and learning more about its unique characteristics.
Though they might seem intimidating at first due to their similar appearance to yellow jackets, the yellow jacket hover fly is actually a beneficial insect in your garden. As a species of hover fly, they play an essential role in pollination. When encountering these insects, it’s essential to remember that they pose no threat to you and are actually helpful in maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
In addition, the yellow jacket hover fly can be distinguished from its wasp counterparts through its single pair of wings and short antennae. Keep an eye out for these fascinating creatures and appreciate their role in our environment. So, next time you spot a yellow jacket hover fly or good news bee, you can relax knowing they are harmless and vital to our ecosystem.
Morphological Features
Yellow Jacket Hover Fly Description
The Yellowjacket Hover Fly, also known as the Virginia flower fly or Good News Bee, is an insect belonging to the species Milesia virginiensis. It is known for its ability to mimic yellow jackets. Despite its resemblance to wasps, it is harmless and lacks a stinger. Unique features include a single pair of wings and short antennae.
Comparison to Other Insects
When comparing the Yellowjacket Hover Fly to other insects, particularly wasps and yellow jackets, there are some key differences:
- Wings: Hover flies have a single pair of wings, while wasps and yellow jackets have two pairs.
- Antennae: Hover flies have short antennae, while wasps and yellow jackets have longer, more noticeable antennae.
- Stinger: The Yellowjacket Hover Fly doesn’t have a stinger, while wasps and yellow jackets do.
| Feature | Yellowjacket Hover Fly | Wasp & Yellow Jacket |
|---|---|---|
| Wings | Single Pair | Two Pairs |
| Antennae | Short | Longer |
| Presence of a stinger | No | Yes |
Identifying the Good News Bee
To identify the Good News Bee, pay attention to its morphological features and behavior:
- Observe the wings. Look for a single pair of wings, as opposed to the two pairs found on wasps and yellow jackets.
- Check for short antennae compared to the longer antennae of wasps and yellow jackets.
- Notice the buzzing sound they make. Good News Bees tend to buzz like a hornet, which is an excellent way to distinguish them from other hover flies.
- Remember that they are harmless mimics. Despite their ability to mimic yellow jackets, they pose no threat to humans.
By recognizing these characteristics, you can confidently identify the Good News Bee and appreciate its presence in your surroundings.
Behavior and Habitat
Hovering and Aggression
The yellowjacket hover fly, also known as the good news bee, is known for its hovering and aggressive behavior. Although they may seem threatening, they are harmless and cannot sting. This defensive tactic allows them to protect themselves from potential predators.
Their behavior includes:
- Flying aggressively
- Buzzing loudly
- Hovering in the air
It’s essential to differentiate between the yellowjacket hover fly and the southern yellowjacket, which can sting and be more dangerous.
Habitat Range
The good news bee can be found mainly in the southern United States. They prefer habitats such as forest edges and areas with deciduous trees, as they provide an ideal environment for them to thrive.
Their typical habitat range consists of:
- Forest edges with deciduous trees
- Gardens and parks
- Southern United States region
Remember, the next time you encounter a yellowjacket hover fly, there’s no need to panic as they are simply a harmless insect mimicking a more dangerous wasp.
Role in the Environment
Pollination Duties
Yellowjacket hover flies, also known as good news bees, are great pollinators. They help plants by taking nectar and pollen from flowers. When they visit different flowers, they transfer pollen between them. This cross-pollination helps plants thrive and produce fruits. For example, they are known to pollinate various flowering plants, like wildflowers and garden plants.
Remember, these pollinators aren’t just cool; they’re essential for a healthy ecosystem. So next time you see a yellowjacket hover fly, thank it for its hard work.
Predator-Prey Relationships
Not only do yellowjacket hover flies contribute to pollination, but they also play a crucial role in predator-prey relationships. The larvae of these flower flies are known to be predators of small insects like aphids. This is great news for gardeners, as aphids can damage plants significantly.
To sum up, yellowjacket hover flies or good news bees have essential roles in the environment. From pollinating flowers, aiding plant growth, and helping control harmful pest populations, these insects are indispensable in maintaining a balanced ecosystem. So, let’s appreciate their presence and be mindful of their importance when we encounter them.
Cultural Significance
Symbolism and Folklore
The Yellowjacket Hover Fly, also known as the Good News Bee, holds some cultural significance in the realm of American folklore. As their name suggests, these insects are believed by some to bring good luck. It’s fascinating how such a small creature can have an impact on people’s beliefs and traditions.
In folklore, Good News Bees are often associated with positive events or happenings. They are considered harbingers of joy and prosperity. So, if you see one, it might just mean that something good is on the horizon for you!
Public Perception
The public’s perception of the Yellowjacket Hover Fly is generally positive, largely due to their role as beneficial pollinators. However, their striking resemblance to yellowjackets might cause fear and confusion for some people, leading to the unnecessary killing of these harmless and helpful insects.
It’s essential to understand the difference between the two, as Hover Flies are nothing to be afraid of. In fact, they can be an asset to your garden and local ecosystem. Here are a few key points to help you distinguish between Yellowjacket Hover Flies and yellowjackets:
- Yellowjacket Hover Flies have two wings, while yellowjackets have four.
- Hover Flies do not sting, while yellowjackets can and will if threatened.
- The body shape of Hover Flies is more elongated, while yellowjackets have a more compact shape.
So next time you see a Yellowjacket Hover Fly or a Good News Bee, remember their cultural significance and the vital role they play in the ecosystem. Be sure to give them the respect they deserve, and perhaps even thank them for the good luck they might bring your way.
Further Investigation
Scientific Research
The yellow jacket hover fly, also known as the good news bee, is a member of the family Syrphidae. These syrphid flies are scientifically important and belong to the order Diptera. To gain a deeper understanding of this insect, you can explore their unique characteristics and behaviors, such as their ability to mimic wasps for protection.
Researchers often study syrphid flies due to their ecological roles. For example, they are known as efficient pollinators and their larvae serve as biocontrol agents against aphids. Investigation in this field is paramount for understanding the wider impact of these insects on their ecosystem.
Recommended Resources
To dive into the world of syrphid flies, consider exploring the following resources:
- BugGuide: An online community where experts and enthusiasts share their knowledge about insects, BugGuide is an excellent resource to learn about the various species within the Syrphidae family.
- Allexperts.com: A platform where you can connect with experts in various fields, Allexperts.com is a good place to inquire about the specific behaviors or identification of different syrphid flies, including the yellow jacket hover fly.
- Blogs and scientific articles: There are numerous blogs and publications showcasing the fascinating intricacies of Diptera, and delving into their content can provide valuable insights as well as answer many of your questions regarding the family Syrphidae.
Remember to maintain a friendly and inquisitive attitude as you explore these resources, and let your curiosity be your guide in understanding the captivating world of the yellow jacket hover fly and other interesting insects within the Syrphidae family.
58 Comments. Leave new
Growing up just east of Mission Bay, San Diego California in the 1960s, we would catch these things we called “H bees” with our bare hands, they never stung and I found out in the 1980s why. The one pictured here is a little longer and or skinnier than I remember. They were nearly identical to a European honey bee except for a distinctive H or a single bar between two of the stripes making up the H. Maybe slightly thicker if you had a real bee side by side with one.
Nearly every time I split firewood (during the warm part of the year), a news bee appears and seems to search the surfaces of the freshly split wood. Until I read on this website that the Yellow Jacket Hover Fly feeds on pollen and nectar, I assumed this was because it was hunting the larvae of wood borers. What is it doing? Also I’ve noticed that when gnats are plaguing me as they do out here in the Ozarks on summer mornings or evenings, they seem to disappear any time there is a news bee present. Is there some adversarial relationship between the two?
This is going to take some research.
I just sat and watched some Yellow Jacket Hover Flies today, observing that gnats do indeed flee from them – but the Hover Fly flees from the common house fly! Best I could tell, the pecking order has to do with a little territorialism and who’s the quickest flier. Still don’t know why they all like the freshly exposed wood surfaces, though. The tree I was splitting was an old Black Jack and they do tend to reek of a slightly tarry sap although they’re not sticky with it. I’m speculating that’s what the news bee and all of them are interested in.
Thanks for the update.
I just saw one of these Serfid fly’s in my garden in Carlsbad, CA
This same exact yellow jacket has been following me since friday afternoon an it doesnt sting me it just gets very close an hovers around me dont know what it means ….
http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-flies/fly-european-flesh-fly.html
This one has the color and almost the right shape.
http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-flies/fly-soldier-unknown-subfamily-beridinae.html
This one is spot on body wise but a different color but it is most likely this one because its listed as unknown subfamily . so i think its this one but a different color.
Thanks for your input Alan.
http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-flies/fly-european-flesh-fly.html
This one has the color and almost the right shape.
http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/local-flies/fly-soldier-unknown-subfamily-beridinae.html
This one is spot on body wise but a different color but it is most likely this one because its listed as unknown subfamily . so i think its this one but a different color.
Hello, and thank you for all of the info you were able to provide!
Unfortunately, I do not know the measurement of the bug, but it was much bigger than the common houseflies I see around normally. At first glance I actually thought it was a cicada molt left behind on the leaf before I looked at it, so I’d say around 1″?
The male small headed fly in that picture is the closest thing I have seen so far to this bug, so it’s possible it is that or a related species. Hopefully we can get a definite ID! Always interesting to learn about new insects I have never seen before.
Since you posted this comment, we have provided an identification: A Stinkfliege in the family Xylophagidae, thanks to the efforts of Eric Eaton.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinkfliegen
It’s Wikipedia, but here it is with Google’s translation from German to English;
The Stinkfliegen (Coenomyiinae) are one consisting of only 25 species subfamily in the family of wood flying . In Germany only the type exists Coenomyia ferruginea , which is 16 to 18 mm body length are already among the rather large species.
The flies are stocky and red-brown to almost black in color. You have hairy and crashing in the male eyes, the antennae are much shorter than the head. The labels behind the breast section carries two small spines, which are typical for the family. They got their name from the intense smell, reminiscent of green cheese. To find the most sluggish flies are common on leaves near the river, the larvae often live in soil or brittle wood.
The domestic Stinkfliege ( Coenomyia ferruginea ) is brown in color and has brown yellow wings of the upper wing vein ( Costa loader ) are completely surrounded. The males are slightly darker and have yellow spots on the side plates of the abdomen, the females are brighter with narrow golden stripe (tires). Its distribution area covers the middle and high mountains from Western Europe to South Siberia and North America.
Literature:
Main J, Main H (1998): Flies and Mosquitoes: Observation, lifestyle , nature book, Augsburg
Honomichl K, Bellmann H (1994): Biology and Ecology of Insects ; CD-Rom, Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart.
Aslo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awl-flies
The family Xylophagidae, according to Wikipedia, are also known as Awl-flies in English, “The family is known by the English name awl-flies.
The larvae are often saprophages, and many can be found in rotting wood.”
http://www.insektenbox.de/zweifl/stifli.htm
Translated from German to English by Google:
General:
flies and larvae spread an unpleasant smell cheese. Indicator: The flies have a plump body and are colored red to blackish brown. On the labels they have two spines. The wings are brown yellow and completely enclosed by a wire. In the female (see picture above and Figure 2 ), the eyes are separated, as they collide in the male. Body length: 16-20 mm Habitat: Middle and high mountains, often near water. Development: The flies are found from June to July. The larvae develop in humus-rich soil or in rotten wood. nutrition: larvae live on detritus (dead plant material, detritus). distribution: Europe, Asia (South Siberia), North America.
Wow, awesome! Thanks for the identification! Will you post a link to your blog? I would love to check it out and learn more about this species. How interesting about the cheese smell :-D!
Lived in Germany for five years, but don’t read German well enough to translate scientific articles myself. Had to rely on Google. Got carried away, listed too many articles; such interesting insects and the names are fascinating.
Have always loved research. Need to focus on my work for the upcoming months now, which actually includes some research, so that’s fun for me, but won’t have free time for bug watching. Best wishes to you both.
Hey I was camping in east otto state forest, East Otto, NY.I seen these for the first time. I just had to look them up. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for this page. It helped me realize what I’ve been playing with on my deck is a fly, not a bee.
My daughter has seen two of these near our house in Fenton Michigan!! I have a picture of one on our screen, but as this is my first post to this site, ever, I don’t see where I can upload it.
You can submit images using the Ask What’s That Bug? link on our site.
Milesia virginiensis
I live in Johannesburg, South Africa and photographed one of these flies for the first time this year.
I don’t want to kill them just get them to stop swarming all over me when I sit outside. Help please!!
I have a picture of one I just took in my yard in Newport News, VA. Not sure how to share it on this site.
You may use the Ask What’s That Bug? link on our site to submit images.
It’s a green hoverfly
A “good news bee” is of the fly family but it is not at all like these photos.
It flies, buzzes, hovers, etc. just like a queen bee, not like any type of hornet. It is all medium brown from head to tail, including wings, no striping whatsoever.
According to BugGuide, the insect pictured in the image in the posting, the Yellow Jacket Hover Fly, is: “In the south, sometimes called the ‘[good] news bee’ for its habit of hovering in front of a person ‘giving the news’.” If there is another insect that goes by this same name, please cite your sources and we will link to them.
I had a good news bee just as the one pictured above hober around me for 7 days straight. And got some wonderful news just this week. $12,000 in student loan debt and I qualify for rehab program of just paying $50. Me being disabled with a daughter I do believe I have a new favorite insect.
That is exactly what a good news bee looks like.
We are these good news bees all the time here in Alabama. Just the past three weeks my wife and I have been cutting fire wood and there has been from one to three of these boys hanging with us where ever we go. No good news yet but we’re anxiously waiting. Don’t give up
Thank you. I live in North west Georgia. Every summer one of these comes around. I finally was able to get a photo of it. It does buzz around me but never too close. I have seen one every summer for about the last five years. I wondered if it is some kind of hornet or wasp. Thanks.
I live in North Georgia I have a cottonwood tree that has a hive of good news bees should I be concerned it is close to my house and does it make honey
I have always known these as News Bees as well. It’s easy to tell they are a fly and not a bee. All you have to do to get one to land on your finger is point at it. I have informed people for years that they were not bees and wouldn’t hurt them. The summer of 2014 and 2015 we had a crazy number of them and for the first time they were annoying me, lol. I also was bitten (not stung) by a couple and have never had that happen before either. It wasn’t as bad as a house fly bite though. They haven’t been bad this year though (2016). Always have liked this bug.
I need help with incect I can’t identify. It has huge black eyes right beside each other. It has a long body with fluffy black and yellow stripes like a honey bee. It hovers and watches everything I do even tries to follow me into my house. I’d appreciate any info about it.
Probably a Carpenter Bumble Bee. They like to hover near people as a sort of bluffing threat but rarely actually do anything.
Hi
We have a few of the Green Hover fly around the flowers here in Bradenton Fl. It is the first time I have seen them.
Hi
We have a few of the Green Hover fly around the flowers here in Bradenton Fl. It is the first time I have seen them.
I’m not sure, but I think it’s a hover fly larva.
hmmm. We did entertain that thought Cesar. We will look into this further.
after seeing the bee my honey bees mated with jarflys and now my honey tastes like shi-!…lol not
We call them “miner bees” in North Carolina. Like a miner, these little buzzy bees work and live in numerous underground tunnels, often taking over old ant hills. They are beneficial to the soil/earth, and get curious when you invade their territory…hovering in front of, and around you, and wanting you to leave their area. They don’t sting or bite, and we’ve had so many, at times, that we could hear their buzzing when we walked outside.
Here in the NE Georgia Mountains , the good news bee has also been called the study bee . Thats what it seems to do is study anything from us , to the stuff we have around . Always pleasant and a joy to have around . I feel like one is very reocorrant and we have rapport , I have nice things to say to it , and it shows off it’s high speed/pitched flying abililty .
I have one in my house right now
oh! that is good news. mine flies in and out even visiting me at my writing desk, here on Galveston Bay.
There’s this insect that keeps flying back to the same spot at our back porch. It won’t leave! It looks like a half bee half fly mutation. It’s very interesting. Though, when I look up pictures of Syrphid fly, the pictures mostly portray a honey bee [and half fly] but the one we have here is a half bumble bee [half fly]. It also keeps trying to through our glass window (I’m assuming because of the light)
So cool, yet kinda creepy!!
There’s this insect that keeps flying back to the same spot at our back porch. It won’t leave! It looks like a half bee half fly mutation. It’s very interesting. Though, when I look up pictures of Syrphid fly, the pictures mostly portray a honey bee [and half fly] but the one we have here is a half bumble bee [half fly]. It also keeps trying to through our glass window (I’m assuming because of the light)
So cool, yet kinda creepy!!
This is what we call a news bee. https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Syrphid-Fly-Spilomyia-longicornis
I heard that they will get rid of misquote ; as they eat the lave . do you know which one does this . as I do not see here where it does that ,, I was told good new bees got rid of mosquitoes .
The Yellowjacket Hover Fly does not prey on Mosquitoes.
i have the green hover fly in my back yord always in the same placei can walk up to itraise my hand to it and it follows my hand up or down or in a circle can get eithin about 2 inches i think it likes mee
Me too. Lol. Its so creepy like a government drone spy
I’ve got one at Cape Coral spark that just hovers and stares at people
My Grandmother always called them Billy Bees. Said put out you finger cause they are coming to bring you good news!
I found one in my plater 2 days in a row have pictures and video escondido ca usa
A Good News” Bee just landed on the toe of my shoe. When I was 9 years old my mom told me about the “Good News” Bees bringing good news. She was right, everytime! Rex
come back every year nothing kills them .they eat or drink spray it won’t kill them .it kicks themdown and them stomp them so bizarre government drones
I just had one circle me as I watered some roses. Here in Mississippi, I have only seen them in August and September when it is hot and dry. I asked my father, many years ago, after cutting grass….. what is that thing? He said it was a “news carrier”. Gone now for 20 years…I only think of my Daddy when I see one.