ROB MILLS A black-bee fly called Anthrax anthrax has been discovered in an English garden

This dastardly looking creature with the same name as one of the planet’s most feared bacterial diseases has been discovered in an English garden. Its arrival is causing a buzz among scientists, not so much because of its dreadful sounding scientific name, but the way the insect can become a useful pollinator when so many butterflies and bees are vanishing from the countryside.

The black bee-fly gets its name purely because anthrax is Greek for coal, a recognition of the insect’s coal-like colouration. Sufferers of the bacterial disease are often left with coal-like, black-stained lesions during the critical stage of the illness. News of the black bee-fly’s appearance at a bee hotel in a garden near Cambridge was released today by the invertebrate charity, Buglife.

ROB MILLS The insect can become a useful pollinator when so many butterflies and bees are vanishing

Buglife member Rob Mills photographed the insect which has a black body and black wings, apart from a small clear zone.

They are not considered likely to become an invasive pest or create an imbalance in ecology Paul Hetherington

A black bee-fly was reportedly discovered in Leicestershire as far back as 1880s but only now has its presence been officially confirmed. Climate change and the popularity of bee hotels – garden features put up to encourage pollinator insects – are the likely reasons for the unexpected discovery. The black bee-fly is a member of a unique group of flying insects that shoot their eggs into the nests of bees so their young can feast on food meant for rival larvae.

ROB MILLS The black-bee was found at a bee hotel near Cambridge and photographed by Buglife member Rob Mills

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Yet even though it goes under the ominous scientific name of anthrax anthrax, experts say the black bee-fly can play the important role of a plant pollinator in an age when many valuable insects are vanishing from the country. Alan Stubbs, the charity’s vice-president, said: “Now, one black bee-fly has been seen and photographed in Britain, it may prove to be among a growing number of insects which are establishing themselves in response to a warmer climate.

ROB MILLS Climate change and the popularity of bee hotels are likely to be the reason for the discovery