'It's carnage and mayhem in your garden,' says Erica. The bee-fly needs to lay her eggs quickly as she is competing with other flies and wasps that are also trying to parasite the solitary bees. She is essentially carpet-bombing her eggs, which she has to do while the bee is away from its nest.' 'This helps her do something called bombing, where she fires off a row of eggs. The dark-edged bee-fly's ovipositor (egg-laying tube) has a spine that allows her to flick her eggs, adds Erica. 'She then flies over to the solitary bee's nest and flicks out the eggs, hoping they will hatch near or in the nest.' The sand protects and camouflages the eggs while also giving them extra weight. 'First the female moves her abdomen in a twerking motion to scoop up sand and gravel to coat the eggs.

Many bee-fly species are parasites of bees and wasps, but there are some that target beetles, grasshoppers, ants, moths or caterpillars.ĭr Erica McAlister, Senior Curator of Diptera at the Museum, explains how a dark-edged bee-fly lays her eggs in a solitary bee's nest and the unfortunate fate of the bee larvae when her eggs hatch: The larva is a parasitoid, meaning it is a parasite that will end up killing its host. While adult bee-flies are adorable, a young bee-fly isn't quite as endearing. The gruesome parasitic nature of a young bee-fly

Cute bee real