Leijpark013

@leijpark013 · 15 Jul 2023

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Leijpark 013 Ivory hoverfly

Written by Thierry P. Thijens ·
There is no worse place to be, even figuratively, than in a hornet's nest. After all, a place with more than 5,000 experienced workers around you is not immediately a welcome environment. But as we've seen so many times in the Leijpark, there is an exception for every rule. After all, the Leijpark is home to an insect that likes to fool its surroundings. I'm talking about the Ivory hoverfly. This fly, also known as the “white giant”, does everything in its power to make its environment believe that it is not a fly. Her thick body with a white band is reminiscent of a bumblebee. And bumblebees sting, where flies don't. The purpose of this masquerade is to want birds to leave her alone and not gasp at her.
By the way, she is a real hoverfly; a status she owes to the fact that she can hang still in the air like a helicopter; she floats, as it were, in a vacuum. The Ivory hoverfly is a species of the forest. Hanging silently between the trees, the male defends his territory and dives from his position to anything that floats by and comes too close in his eyes.
When it comes to reproduction, the Ivory hoverfly has strange habits. When the female is ready to lay eggs, she will brush herself first. And not just a few strokes on the body, no, she washes extensively, sometimes for up to half an hour. And then: she visits a hornet's nest. There she sneaks in and lays her eggs. It is not yet entirely clear why the wasps are not attacking her. Presumably, the Ivory hoverfly emits a scent that intoxicates the wasps' aggression. She has just thoroughly rid herself of her own scent (by washing) and the wasps only smell the fragrance she emits.
Her larvae hatch in the hornet's nest and the larvae are not attacked either. It is suspected that an attack is omitted because the larvae feed on wasp poop and on dead wasps that end up at the bottom of the nest. The larvae act as cleaners and are extremely useful for the wasps, who can focus on other tasks now that the clean-up work is done for them. For example, the intruder has suddenly become an employee. Handy, right?
The ability to hang silently in the air has a great advantage. Flowers that carry delicious nectar and pollen often have spiders on them. Hidden by their bract color or hidden behind a leaf or stem. As soon as an insect lands on such a flower, the spider strikes at lightning speed. However, those who do not land immediately and can first inspect the flower thoroughly from the air and are already on their wings in case of the slightest danger, can get out of their feet much faster. And that's how hoverflies survive, and so do the Ivory hoverflies. Every now and then, a copy is late and flies in the road or a bird doesn't fall into the bag of tricks, but to put it in the White Giant commercial: “The Ivory hoverfly survives a lot and suffers a little bit”.

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