Honey Bee Mimic Hoverflies Eristalis sp.
The Drone Fly is a Honey Bee mimic hoverfly named after the male honey bee. The name is sometimes applied only to the largest, darkest of the Eristalis Honey Bee mimic species - Eristalis tenax, sometimes to the two largest and darkest, E. tenax and E. pertinax, or to the whole family of Eristalis species (including in the UK E. horticola, E. arbustorum, E. interruptus, E. nemorum and others).
The Drone Fly above, Eristalis horticola, is a little shorter than tenax
and pertinax and has much more orange on its abdomen. It also has a dark area on the leading edge of each wing.
Eristalis arbustorum above is one of the smaller group of the honey bee mimics in Eristalis species.
Its usually bright orange patched abdomen is variable and can be completely dark, but its face is always plain and pale with no central stripe, only the antennae.
Dark variants of Eristalis arbustorum above have a bold white line between the abdominal segments but still have the plain,
pale face with no central stripe.
Other small species include Eristalis interruptus, similar to arbustorum but with a dark,
central stripe on its face, and Eristalis nemorum which is like interruptus
but still smaller.
A stack of 3-4 hoverflies is not unusual, 2-3 males over a female
Links:
Eristalis tenax
Eristalis pertinax