P3 have been back in the garden and making the most of the sunny weather to look at pollinators. Here is a Marmalade Hoverfly feeding on a Calendula flower. The children noticed that the hoverfly looked like a bee or wasp and we learnt that this is called mimicry, where a harmless animal or plant mimics a poisonous one to put predators off!
We learnt some ways to tell if an insect is a hoverfly rather than a bee or wasp.
- Hoverflies have short antennae, bees and wasps have long antennae.
- Hoverflies have really big, compound eyes that cover most of their heads. Bees and wasps have big eyes too but they only cover the side of their heads.
- Hoverflies have one pair of wings. Bees and wasps have two pairs of wings.