Saturday 15 June
Heath bee-fly (Bombylius minor)

Heath bee-fly fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Heath bee-fly description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Insecta |
| Order | Diptera |
| Family | Bombyliidae |
| Genus | Bombylius |
Bee-flies are named for their resemblance to true bees. However, they belong to the order Diptera (flies), which only possess two wings, whereas bees have four wings. The second pair is not easy to see in the field, and the best way to identify bee-flies is from their much shorter antennae. Bee-flies are divided into two groups, those with long tongues and those with short tongues. The heath bee-fly belongs to the group with long tongues and this provides another means of identifying them from bees. The heath bee-fly has a brown furry body, a relatively short abdomen, and proportionately long wings, which are held outstretched when the insect is at rest.
- Size
- Body length: 7 - 8.5 mm
Heath bee-fly biology
All bee-flies are parasites of other insects, and the heath bee-fly larva is a parasite of solitary bees of the genus Colletes where these are using vertical banks as nesting sites. Female bee-flies have a rather hit-and-miss procedure for getting their larvae into their host-bee's own larval cell. They collect fine dust in a 'basket' under their abdomens, and lay their eggs whilst hovering. They coat the eggs in dust and flick them at small holes along sandy banks. The coating of dust helps to camouflage the emerging grub, which then finds its way into the bee's burrow, but it is not known whether they feed on the bee grub or its food store. The adults are nectar-feeders and can be found on the flowers of bell heather, but they seem to prefer much scarcer plants associated with bare ground. The heath bee-fly is on the wing from mid-July to August.
TopHeath bee-fly range
The heath bee-fly is found throughout temperate and southern Europe, but in the UK it is restricted to the Isle of Man and a few heath sites in east Dorset. Historically, its range was the south of England around the New Forest, and there are single records from Devon and Wales.
TopHeath bee-fly habitat
This is a species of open heathland, especially areas where there are exposed sandy banks and bluffs along the edges of paths.
TopHeath bee-fly status
Classified as Vulnerable in the UK.
TopHeath bee-fly threats
The loss of much of Britain's heathland has resulted in the disappearance of many species that depend on this habitat. Heath is a habitat that requires careful management or it can become covered with scrub and rank vegetation. This management has often been absent from many otherwise suitable sites.
TopHeath bee-fly conservation
The heath bee-fly is listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, and included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. parasites can be very vulnerable to changes in the population size of their host-species. In this species, a lack of suitable heathland management can reduce the opportunities for host larval cells to be dug into bare earth. This situation also reduces the chances of the early-colonising plants (the food-source for the adult insects) being able to gain a foothold.
There is still relatively little known about this insect's biology, and more field work is essential before the true status of the heath bee-fly is known. Only then will it be possible to implement plans to conserve it, together with many of the other species that depend on this apparently fragile heathland habitat.
TopAuthentication
Information supplied by English Nature.
http://www.english-nature.org.uk
Glossary
- Abdomen
- In arthropods (crustaceans, insects and arachnids) the abdomen is the hind region of the body, which is usually segmented to a degree. In crustacea (e.g. crabs) the limbs attach to the abdomen; in insects the limbs are attached to the thorax (the part of the body nearest to the head) and not the abdomen. In vertebrates the abdomen is the part of the body that contains the internal organs (except the heart and lungs).
- Antennae
- Pair of sensory structures on the head of invertebrates.
- Larva
- Stage in an animal's lifecycle after it hatches from the egg. Larvae are typically very different in appearance to adults; they are able to feed and move around but usually are unable to reproduce.
- Parasites
- An organism that derives its food from, and lives in or on, another living organism at the host's expense.
References
More »Related species
Close
Image credit
© David Element
David Element
david.element@ukgateway.net
http://www.david.element.ukgateway.net
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.













