{"id":10422,"date":"2026-08-30T09:45:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T09:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/?p=10422"},"modified":"2026-09-02T17:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:45:35","slug":"2026-08-meeting-the-furry-dronefly-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/posts\/2026-08-meeting-the-furry-dronefly-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Fuzzy disguises and bumblebee imposters: Meeting the furry dronefly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first glance, you would easily mistake the furry dronefly (<em>Eristalis intricaria<\/em>) for a plump bumblebee. Measuring an impressive 11 to 14 millimeters long, this master of mimicry wears a dense coat of fuzzy hair and a warm yellow-orange plate on its back, giving it the perfect disguise to ward off hungry predators. While females typically sport a snowy white tip at the end of their abdomen, males show off a darker reddish-brown tail. Thriving around damp woodlands, marshes, and tranquil lake shores, these skilled aerial acrobats hover effortlessly over wild blossoms to sip nectar and spread pollen. Below the water&#8217;s surface, their aquatic larvae\u2014famously known as &#8220;rat-tailed maggots&#8221;\u2014live in shallow mud, using a remarkable telescoping tube like an underwater snorkel to breathe fresh air! I encountered this large male on the shores of a postglacial lake near Barkarby, Sweden. Sadly, after securing just one quick photo, the startled fly zipped off into the sky, denying me a second chance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At first glance, you would easily mistake the furry dronefly (Eristalis intricaria) for a plump bumblebee. Measuring an impressive 11 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,82,488],"tags":[],"countries":[63,76],"order-category":[44,404,60],"class_list":["post-10422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-phytophages-herbivores","category-pollinators","category-saprophages","countries-europe","countries-sweden","order-category-insects-flies","order-category-insects-flies-hoverflies","order-category-insects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10424,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10422\/revisions\/10424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10422"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=10422"},{"taxonomy":"order-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/order-category?post=10422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}