Flight Of The Hoverfly

The Hoverfly Eristalinus Megacephalus Click me to see my large Head  Understanding the physics of the hoverfly in flight could lead to advances in engineering and aerospace technology, especially in the area of developing so-called ‘smart’ or deformable wing designs for aircraft such as micro air vehicles. -- Adrian Thomas, Oxford University  Have you seen this guy move from points A to B, leaf to leaf and flower to flower? The hoverfly, especially this one ( Eristalinus punctulatus ) is one of my favorite subjects because they just FLY so well-- its like watching a computer generated inter galactic alien spaceship, dodge away puny heat-seeking missiles from Earth. During my bug shoots, I am the heat seeking missile clumsily zeroing-in on these aerobats. It's incredible how it can hover up, down, left, right and fly 'in corners" as though tracing a square pattern. Its wings are versatile and flexible it can twist through 45 degrees 300 times every second. Click me so you can see my spotted eyes  Click me so I can land on your nose  Another amazing factoid about hoverflies is that many species prey upon pest insects, including aphids and leafhoppers that spread diseases  and  destroy plants by munching and chomping on them. They are seen as a bio-controler; nature's own live pesticide effectively reducing the levels of destructive critters saving farmers and award winning gardeners a lot of money. Green thumbs use companion plants in their gardens like buckwheat, parsley and chamomile to lure these winged wonders to serve and protect plants and blossoms. So yes, yes, yes, that's a lot of good for the environment and to the advancement of aerospace technology.