At first, I thought this was a tiny bee. In fact, it is a syrphid fly, also known as hover fly or flower fly. These guys are truly tiny and they hover like hummingbirds. This one is hovering over a lemon balm flower. To give you an idea how small this is, lemon balm flowers are only about a centimeter long. This fly looks to be about half that size.
I’ve done a little digging in an attempt to make an ID and as of now it looks like Toxomerus geminatus. But… there are apparently over 870 species of syrphid flies in North America. I’m no insect expert and I admit, I have not done an exhaustive search. If you know the species, or how to ID them, please post a comment.
By the way, lemon balm is one of those plants that has a truly beautiful scientific name – Melissa officinalis. For those of you named Melissa, did you know it’s Greek for honey bee? Lemon balm is known for attracting bees (and apparently syrphid flies).
Tags: bees, flower flies, flowers, green, hover flies, leaves, Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis, syrphid flies, yellow