CreatureData

Drone fly

Eristalis tenax (Linnaeus, 1758)

Status not recordedinsects

The drone fly (Eristalis tenax) is a species in the family Syrphidae, order Diptera.

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Quick facts about the drone fly

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the drone fly live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the drone fly as introduced in 2 countries.

  1. South Africa
  2. United States

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the drone fly endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the drone fly classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumArthropoda
  3. classInsecta
  4. orderDiptera
  5. familySyrphidae
  6. genusEristalis
  7. SpeciesEristalis tenax (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Conops vulgaris, Eristalis campestris, Eristalis claripes, Eristalis cognatus, Eristalis columbicus, Eristalis hortorum, Eristalis nili, Eristalis rubix, Eristalis sinensis, Eristalis sylvaticus, Eristalis tenax campestris, Eristalis tenax var. alpina, Eristalis tenax var. claripes, Eristalis ventralis, Eristalis vulpinus, Eristalomya tenax, Helophilus horridus, Helophilus tenax, Musca apiformis, Musca porcina, Musca tenax

Other names and names in other languages (56)
  • Bee mimicking hover flyEnglish
  • Common drone flyEnglish
  • Rattailed maggotEnglish
  • HommelvliegAfrikaans
  • عويسبة ملحةArabic
  • Mosca AbellotCatalan
  • pestřenka trubcováCzech
  • DroneflueDanish
  • SchlammbieneGerman
  • Mosca zángano europeaSpanish
  • Harilik mudasirelaneEstonian
  • KuhnurikärpänenFinnish
  • eristaleFrench
  • רקבן הבוץHebrew
  • Dron pršilicaCroatian
  • Közönséges herelégyHungarian
  • Eristalo tenaceItalian
  • ナミハナアブJapanese
  • 꽃등에Korean
  • Srutinė žiedmusėLithuanian
  • stor droneflueNorwegian Bokmål
  • Blinde bijDutch
  • stor droneflugeNorwegian Nynorsk
  • Gnojka wytrwałaPolish
  • Mosca-Zângão EuropeiaPortuguese
  • Sisan ChuspiQuechua
  • Ильница цепкаяRussian
  • trúdovka obyčajnáSlovak
  • Navadna kalnicaSlovenian
  • Обична лебдилицаSerbian
  • storslamflugaSwedish
  • Ільниця хваткаUkrainian
  • 長尾管蚜蠅Chinese
  • KeilfleckschwebfliegeGerman
  • MistbieneGerman
  • Scheinbienen-KeilfleckschwebfliegeGerman
  • Mosca AbejaSpanish
  • MoscabejaSpanish
  • kuhnurisurriFinnish
  • asticot à queue-de-ratFrench
  • Éristale communeFrench
  • Éristale gluantFrench
  • Éristale gluanteFrench
  • Éristale tenaceFrench
  • Mouche pourceauFrench
  • Syrphe apiformeFrench
  • Ver à queue de RatFrench
  • Pčelolika cvjetaricaCroatian
  • Ильница обыкновеннаяRussian
  • Пчеловидка обыкновеннаяRussian
  • Ильница-пчеловидкаRussian
  • Obična lebdilicaSerbian
  • bilik slamflugaSwedish
  • stor slamblomflugaSwedish
  • Бджоловидка звичайнаUkrainian
  • Мулянка звичайнаUkrainian

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the drone fly

Other species in the same genus Eristalis.

CompareDrone fly vs Eurasian drone flyDrone fly vs Furry DroneflyDrone fly vs Tapered drone flyDrone fly vs Stripe-winged drone fly

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the drone fly an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the drone fly as introduced in 2 countries: South Africa and United States, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the drone fly?

The drone fly (Eristalis tenax) belongs to the family Syrphidae in the order Diptera.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Drone fly (Eristalis tenax). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/drone-fly

MLA

“Drone fly (Eristalis tenax).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/drone-fly.

BibTeX
@misc{drone_fly_2026,
  title = {Drone fly (Eristalis tenax)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/drone-fly},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}