# Dusky-winged Hover Fly

*Ocyptamus fuscipennis*

They employ Batesian mimicry, copying the appearance of stinging wasps to scare off predators, though they are entirely defenseless.

- **Taxonomy:** Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Diptera › Syrphidae › Ocyptamus
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Deciduous forest edges, shaded glades, suburban gardens, and damp woodlands.
- **Diet:** Adults feed on floral nectar and pollen; larvae are voracious predators of aphids, thrips, and other soft-bodied garden pests.
- **Range:** North America, Central America, Caribbean
- **Size:** 8 to 11 mm in length
- **Lifespan:** 1 to 2 months as adults
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Widespread use of chemical pesticides and herbicides, and the loss of wild nectar-producing plants in urbanized areas.
- **Safe to approach?:** Completely harmless to humans. Despite their wasp-like yellow and black markings, they possess no stinger and cannot bite. You can safely observe them hovering at a very close distance. If one lands on you, it is merely drinking sweat for salts; gently brush or blow it away without harming it.

## About

Ocyptamus fuscipennis is a species of syrphid fly in the family Syrphidae.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/058f5533-c4ef-473a-aad4-c52299384453
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/362836
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocyptamus fuscipennis
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://static.inaturalist.org/photos/1143838/medium.jpg (mayfly1963, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.