Wasp or Hoverfly?

TV naturalist Chris Packham helps you sort the wasps from the flies.

IMAGINE the scenario – you are sunning yourself in the garden when a black and yellow striped insect starts buzzing around you and lands on your arm. You naturally assume it’s a wasp, Mother Nature’s stripy bastard. But is it really? Nature is very cunning, and certain species have evolved to masquerade as others in order to give themselves an advantage in the cut-throat world of the survival of the fittest. In fact there is every chance that your insect visitor is not a vicious stinging twat, but is actually a harmless hoverfly, a pollinator of flowers and friend of the gardener. But how can we know for sure which one it is? Follow my simple path of truth, answering the questions as you go along, to find out whether…

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Viz (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2024

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