THE FAKE “BEE”

At the blog of my friend, Nicu, called “My Thoughts” I saw a picture of a quite interesting fly. Here it is:

“Fly?! – you may ask in disbelief, - This is not a fly. It is a bee!”
If you think so, my friend, then you have been tricked by a Hoverfly (in the United Kingdom), or Flower fly (in the United States) from the Syrphidae family of the Diptera World. There are over 4000 representatives of this family of insects.
Hoverflies are harmless, and in order to protect themselves from predators they use the technique called “mimicry” to imitate dangerous insects like bees, wasps, or bumblebees. This is represented by certain colours, hairs on the body, movements and sounds.
The name “Hoverflies” these small (about 12 – 15 mm) insects have obtained due to another interesting technique – they are able to hover in the air without changing the position for a long time. This is used by male flies to demonstrate their ability to coordinate and control their flight, thus attracting females. They are like telling everyone: “If I have such ability, then my genes are excellent to give to the future generations!”.
One of the most well-known Hoverflies in Europe and Western Asia is Eristalis tenax L., described by the biologist Linnaeus in 1758. Its larva called the “rat” has long tail-like breathing tubes and is living in small ponds. Chrysalis is formed inside larva’s cover in the soil near the pond.

Thus, if you see a black-and-yellow winged insect, do not be quick in calling it a bee. Look closer! In case the insect has only two wings (instead of four), big eyes and tiny antennae, then this is an amazing representative of the Syrphidae family – the Hoverfly.

BACK TO THE EARTH

Besides space objects and spacecrafts I also drew and wrote about the planet Earth with its geographical spheres, human organs and systems, designs of various mechanisms and machines, etc. I continued borrowing books not only from the school library, but also from friends and relatives.
And one day I got my hands on the collection of seven books called “Jizini Jivotnyh (The Life of Animals)”, which became the very first push to my interest in Biological sciences.


I really enjoyed studying these books. Although they were written in a pure scientific language, I understood most of the content. And I began drawing the pictures of Protozoa (microorganisms), Arachnida (spiders), Insecta (insects), Aves (birds) and other living beings based on the images in the books.
Here are some of the drawings from my albums:

Observing and reading about all the wonderful creations of the Nature, I became excited and passionate about the natural sciences, like Zoology, Genetics, Bionics, Ecology, and so on. I started to have entomological excursions, do research work by myself, and, of course, write poems about the natural wonders of the Earth. The latter can be found at my blog “Alexander Ischenco – The Thoughts”.
Most of the drawings, research works and early stories were collected and arranged into an anthology consisting of 7 albums.
Thus, the encyclopedia called “Mir Vokrug Nas (The World Around Us)” was created.