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A footballer hoverfly resting on a leaf. It has black and yellow stripes on its thorax, like a football shirt

The footballer © Katrina Martin/2020VISION

The footballer

This common hoverfly is often seen visiting flowers. It's named for its stripy thorax, which looks a bit like a football shirt.

Enw gwyddonol

Helophilus pendulus

Pryd i'w gweld

April to November

Species information

Category

Ystadegau

Wing length: 8.5-11.25 mm

Statws cadwraethol

Common and widespread

Ynghylch

The footballer takes its name from the black and yellow stripes on its thorax, a pattern that is often used on football shirts. It's sometimes also called the common tiger hoverfly or the sun fly.

It is common across the UK in a wide variety of habitats, from woodlands to gardens and roadsides. It can often be seen visiting flowers on sunny days. The footballer is particularly fond of damp areas, as its young (larvae) live in shallow water with lots of rotting vegetation, or in very wet manure. They are known as rat-tailed maggots because of their long 'tail', which is actually a breathing tube.

Sut i'w hadnabod

There are several similar stripy-bodied hoverflies related to the footballer, which can be tricky to tell apart. The footballer is the most common of them, so is probably the one you're most likely to see.

Key features include a yellow face with a black stripe down the centre and the amount of orange on its hind tibia (the middle section of its back leg). On the footballer, the top two thirds of the hind tibia are orange, with the bottom third black. Other similar species have more black.

Dosbarthiad

Common and widespread

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

In most hoverflies, males have eyes that meet at the top of the head, whilst females have eyes that are separated. The footballer and its close relatives are exceptions. Instead, to tell a male from a female you have to look at the end of the body. Female footballers come to a conical point, whilst males have a little rounded dome at the end.