Volucella

{{Short description|Genus of flies}}

{{Automatic Taxobox

| image = Volucella_pellucens2.jpg

| image_caption = Volucella pellucens

| taxon = Volucella

| authority = Geoffroy, 1762{{cite book |last1=Geoffroy |first1=E.L. |title=Histoire abregee des insectes ... de Paris. , . Vol. 2, . |date=1762 |publisher=Durand |location=Paris |pages=690 pp., pls 11-22 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/132531#page/5/mode/1up |access-date=5 July 2021}}

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = See text

| synonyms_ref = {{cite journal|last=Evenhuis|first=Neal L.|year=2020|title=The hazards of Nomenclatural Archaeology? The Diptera names of Theodorus van Swinderen in his 1822 Index Rerum Naturalium quae conservantur in Museo Academico Groningano|journal=Zootaxa|volume=4859|issue=3|pages=383–396|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.4859.3.4|pmid=33056189}}

| synonyms = Macrostoma Swinderen, 1822

}}

Volucella is a genus of large, broad-bodied, dramatic hover-flies. They have distinctive plumose aristae and the face is extended downward.{{cite book|author=Coe, R.L.|year=1953 |title=Diptera: Syrphidae, Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects Vol 10 Pt 1|pages=98pp |publisher=Royal Entomological Society of London}} They are strongly migratory and males are often territorial. Adults feed on nectar of flowers and are often seen sunning on leaves. The larvae of most species live in nests of bumblebees and social wasps, where they are detritivores and larval predators.{{cite book|author1=Stubbs, Alan E. |author2=Falk, Steven J. |name-list-style=amp |year=1983 |title=British Hoverflies: An Illustrated Identification Guide|pages=253, xvpp |publisher=British Entomological & Natural History Society}}

Selected species

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Gallery

File:Humleblomfluga02054.jpg|Volucella bombylans var. bombylans female

File:Volucella bombylans.jpg|Volucella bombylans var. plumata female

File:Volucella inanis 20020718.jpg|Volucella inanis female

File:Volucella pellucens, 2006-07-22.JPG|Volucella pellucens female

File:Volucella fg05.jpg|Volucella inflata female

File:Volucella September 2007-2.jpg|Volucella zonaria female

References