HARMLESS BEES AND WASPS?

Recently a customer asked if there was any treatment for wasps/bees that were flying over her garden and fence line-hedge. I asked her to point them out. Reluctantly she did as she was scared of being stung.

“No need to worry”, I mentioned they are harmless they can’t sting you. They are neither bees nor wasps. She looked at me as if I was MAD!

They are in fact flies. Hoverflies that make up the insect family Syrphidae. Hoverflies make a good job of imitating their relations that can ( Bees and Wasps) sting you. So most people are fooled by their guise and give them a wide berth. Exactly what they want!

The difference between a fly and wasp (besides one being able to sting you) is that wasps have two sets of wings, and flies only one. Flies have one pair of wings and two stumps of Halteres used for balance when flying.

Hover flies are actually beneficial to your garden as their lifecycle predates garden pests.

The ACES customer agreed to leave the hoverflies in her garden when she understood they were harmless to her and her family.