Tongue Coating. Myathropa florea, Deathhead Fly, on Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare, Frankendael Park, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Traditionally, Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare, was used to treat digestive disorders. Thinking about this, I wondered how Hoverflies digest those small but quite hard and tough pollen particles. It used to be thought that Our Flies were able to crush the pollen by sheer physical force. That idea has been discarded. Today research has led to the insight that the enzyme action of nectar sugar in the Fly's Stomach opens the pores of the outer skin of pollen grains so that their nutrients can be accessed. Highly fascinating...
This is Myathropa florea, Flower Hoverfly or Deathhead Fly. The name Myathropa was devised by the Italian entomologist Camillo Róndani (1808-1879), but he was clearly a bit sloppy in his Greek derivation. If he'd been precise, he would have written 'Myiatropa' - deriving from the Greek words for fly and for personified death or destiny (=Atropos). This was pointed out by George Henry Verrall (1848-1911) in 1901. But to no avail because the scientific name had already been officially established. So word purists will have to grit their teeth when it is said that 'Myathropa', from the Greek, means 'Deathhead Fly'. The 'blot' of a Deathhead or Skull can vaguely been seen on our Hoverfly's thorax.
Tongue Coating. Myathropa florea, Deathhead Fly, on Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare, Frankendael Park, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Traditionally, Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare, was used to treat digestive disorders. Thinking about this, I wondered how Hoverflies digest those small but quite hard and tough pollen particles. It used to be thought that Our Flies were able to crush the pollen by sheer physical force. That idea has been discarded. Today research has led to the insight that the enzyme action of nectar sugar in the Fly's Stomach opens the pores of the outer skin of pollen grains so that their nutrients can be accessed. Highly fascinating...
This is Myathropa florea, Flower Hoverfly or Deathhead Fly. The name Myathropa was devised by the Italian entomologist Camillo Róndani (1808-1879), but he was clearly a bit sloppy in his Greek derivation. If he'd been precise, he would have written 'Myiatropa' - deriving from the Greek words for fly and for personified death or destiny (=Atropos). This was pointed out by George Henry Verrall (1848-1911) in 1901. But to no avail because the scientific name had already been officially established. So word purists will have to grit their teeth when it is said that 'Myathropa', from the Greek, means 'Deathhead Fly'. The 'blot' of a Deathhead or Skull can vaguely been seen on our Hoverfly's thorax.