One cannot be outside very long in the month of August in Indiana without encountering the pesky Hover Fly. This tiny flying pest is also known as Corn Fly, Flower Fly, Helicopter Fly and mistakenly identified as a sweat bee.
The hover fly has the ability to hover suspended in mid-air and turn 360 degrees which still amazes engineers today! Wasps and bees do not have the ability to attain such flight patterns. Hover flies mimic wasps and bees in their coloring. Yellow and black colors in the insect world are nature’s indicators of stinging or dangerous pests. The gentle hover fly has only one defense ~ its color pattern mimicking natures insect predators giving this insect a chance for survival. The defenseless hover fly does not even have a stinger. With sponging mouthparts this fly cannot bite.
The reason that the hover fly is so aggravating is that it is drawn to salty human sweat for a moisture supply. Sweat also allows pollen particles to attach to the skin providing a great protein supply for nourishment. Hover flies are very beneficial: they are pollinators, and their larva are predators themselves of aphids.
They have a very short season, usually 2 to 3 weeks in the summer, but during that time they are certainly one of Indiana’s most annoying flying pests flying in large groups of hundreds or thousands.
The takeaway for hover flies is that although they are annoying, they are beneficial insects as pollinators and predators of aphids. They look menacing but do not have stingers and cannot bite us and therefore should not be feared. Chemical treatments are not recommended for these gentle summertime flyers. The best part is that the hover fly season is usually only 2 to 3 weeks, so ignore them and enjoy the rest of your summer.