Flower Flies: Toxomerus marginatus
(Photo: Marvin Smith on 5/14/10)
Range: Common throughout most of the United States and southern Canada.
Size: Small -- 5-6 mm (around a quarter of an inch).Food: Adults feed on nectar and pollen and are often found visiting flowers of herbaceous plants or shrubs. Larvae are voracious predators of aphids, thrips, small caterpillars.
Key Identification Characteristics: Thin abdomen with a continuous yellow band around the outside edge. On similar species, the yellow and brown stripes across the abdomen go all the way to the abdomen's edge. Abdomen tip is pointed in females and rounded in males. Large reddish brown eyes.
(Source: BugGuide)
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