Batman Hoverfly

Myathropa florea

Myathropa florea, sometimes referred to as the Yellow-haired Sun Fly or the Batman hoverfly, is a very common European and North African species of hoverfly. Adults may be seen on flowers from May to September. It is of a similar size to the common drone fly, but M. florea is generally more yellow, with two light bands to the thorax, interrupted with a black central smudge. In museum specimens, any yellow colour soon fades to brown after death. Like most species in the tribe Eristalini, M. florea is rather variable in size, shape and colour. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this insect was recorded 113 times across 6 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

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Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 12°C (typically 12 to 14°C, from 7 areas). That holds across 15° of latitude, which suggests its timing follows temperature more than the calendar.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 49°N in May to 57°N in June, about 900 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.