For many years researchers could not understand how honey bees could fly with their small, rigid wings. The wings seemed too small in comparison to their little body.

For example, many beekeepers note that European Dark Bees are willing to fly in much colder weather than the other species they keep. Can bees fly in the rain? Yeates D.M. (1992). "Towards a monophyletic Bombyliidae (Diptera): the removal of the Proratinae (Diptera: Scenopinidae)". American Museum Novitates (3051): 1–30. Common roach (German roach/Blattella germanica) on the left and American roach (Periplaneta americana) on the rightSourakov, Andrei (2011). "Faster than a flash: The fastest visual startle reflex response is found in a long-legged fly, Condylostylus sp. (Dolichopodidae)". Florida Entomologist. 94 (2): 367–369. doi: 10.1653/024.094.0240. S2CID 86502767.

Colless, D.H. & McAlpine, D.K. (1991). Diptera (flies), pp.717–786. In: The Division of Entomology. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra (spons.), The Insects of Australia. Melbourne UniversThe honey bee is the only bee to maintain a colony throughout the winter. The colony reduces its size in autumn and relies on its stores of honey to last it through the winter months when it is too cold for foraging or there is no forage available. The colony clusters together inside the hive to keep warm using their bodies to generate heat with the bees taking turns to be on the cold outside. The queen will remain at the centre of the cluster. On warmer days honey bees will go on ‘cleansing flights’ to relieve themselves of waste.

The Western honey bee ( Apis mellifera) has three pairs of fuzzy dark legs, a pair of antennae, and two pairs of wings Marquez, J. G.; Krafsur, E. S. (1 July 2002). "Gene Flow Among Geographically Diverse Housefly Populations (Musca domestica L.): A Worldwide Survey of Mitochondrial Diversity". Journal of Heredity. 93 (4): 254–259. doi: 10.1093/jhered/93.4.254. PMID 12407211. Gibb, Timothy J.; Oseto, Christian (2010). Arthropod Collection and Identification: Laboratory and Field Techniques. Academic Press. p.189. ISBN 978-0-08-091925-6. Why are insects not allowed in animal feed?" (PDF). All About Feed. August 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 August 2016 . Retrieved 24 May 2016.A honey bee will continue to forage for food for as long as there is daylight, the weather is suitable, and the hive conditions warrant it. Further information: Anti-predator adaptation The large bee-fly, Bombylius major, is a Batesian mimic of bees. Diaz-Roa, A.; Gaona, M. A.; Segura, N. A.; Suárez, D.; Patarroyo, M.A.; Bello, F. J. (August 2014). " Sarconesiopsis magellanica (Diptera: Calliphoridae) excretions and secretions have potent antibacterial activity". Acta Tropica. 136: 37–43. doi: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2014.04.018. PMID 24754920. Flying bugs and insects come in all shapes and sizes. Identifying species of flying insects and bugs in your home is vital to recognize harmless, venomous, and disease-carrying pests. Also, in your garden, flying insects can inflict a nasty sting or damage your ornamental flowering shrubs. However, not all winged bugs and insects are dangerous. Many insects that fly perform vital tasks such as pollinating flowers or feeding on plant-destroying pests. Convincing, yes. Impossible to identify? No. hoverflies generally have small, short antennae, whereas bees have long and more obvious ones. They're wannabes in disguise. But go easy on them, because like bees they're expert pollinators that will make your garden bloom.

Exoprosopa caliptera in Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado, US - note the silvery mirror stripes formed by patches of specialized hairs modified into reflecting scales Head of a horse-fly showing large compound eyes and stout piercing mouthparts A head of a fly, showing the two compound eyes and three simple eyes clearly. Incredible as it may seem, the honey bee has FIVE eyes, two large compound eyes and three smaller 'ocelli' eyes in the centre of its head. Honey bees compound eyes are sensitive more to the blue end of the light spectrum and into ultraviolet. Flowers reflect large amounts of ultraviolet light and will appear very bright to a bee. Bees are totally red blind so you may want to rethink you planting for bees to include more blues. As you can see in the above video, a bee’s wings are actually very flexible, with the bee utilising this flexibility to create thrust that would not possible with rigid wings. Ssymank, Axel; Kearns, C. A.; Pape, Thomas; Thompson, F. Christian (1 April 2008). "Pollinating Flies (Diptera): A major contribution to plant diversity and agricultural production". Biodiversity. 9 (1–2): 86–89. doi: 10.1080/14888386.2008.9712892. S2CID 39619017.

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Colangelo, Matt (9 October 2015). "A Desperate Search for Casu Marzu, Sardinia's Illegal Maggot Cheese". Food and Wine . Retrieved 24 May 2016. Like bees and hoverflies the adults are pollinators. But they're not called parasitic for nothing. They lay their eggs on other insects, such as caterpillars which the resulting larvae then feed on. Stireman, John O. (1 September 2002). "Learning in the Generalist Tachinid Parasitoid Exorista Mella Walker (Diptera: Tachinidae)". Journal of Insect Behavior. 15 (5): 689–706. doi: 10.1023/A:1020752024329. ISSN 1572-8889. S2CID 36686371. Bee-flies fling their eggs into holes dug by Mining bees. Then their young, or "larvae", feast on the bees' pollen stores. Chapman, R. F. (1998). The Insects; Structure & Function. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57890-5.