I needed to distract myself from a rather annoying phone call today.

I took a short walk with my dog and discovered several insects on the dandelions which are still blooming.

A little one caught my attention. First I thought it is dead but as I came closer with my smartphone it moved. It had such a distinctive appearance that I needed to find out what it was.

Smart me I soon discovered what species I was capturing.

Myopa testacea

or

Plain-winged Spring Beegrabber

Beegrabber...seems to be a pervert 😂.

Indeed it is a parasite to solitary bees, bumblebees and wasps.
The females are looking for potential hosts where they can attach an egg to the body by grabbing the back. Once the larvae hatches it feeds on the host, he is pretty much eaten alive. Only when the larvae is fully grown the host dies.

The Plain-winged Spring Beegrabber can be found in Europe from April to July. They are flower visitors and feed on nectar.

As you can see they also are functioning as pollinators. The whole body is covered with pollen.

According to Wikipedia Myopa testacea belongs to the superfamily Conopoidea.
Flies of the family Conopidae are distributed worldwide except for the poles and many of the Pacific islands. About 800 species in 47 genera are described worldwide, about 70 are found in North America.

My little Plain-winged Spring Beegrabber is one of the 80 species in 14 genera represented in Europe. They do look quite unique and even though they are pollinators, for bees they can be deadly.

So now it is up to you to decide if the Beegrabber is a pervert, a parasite or a pollinator. To me it is a fascinating and very useful insect which looks kinda cute.

I kept walking and discovered several types of bees feeding on the dandelions which I will present another day. I am trying to figure out what kind of bees I captured but at least 3 different species.

See you next time.