Paul Allen's flower fly
species of insect

Paul Allen's flower fly (Eristalis alleni) is a flower fly found only in Costa Rican forests in the central highlands. It was named after Paul Allen. Another fly was also named after Allen's associate Bill Gates, Bill Gates' flower fly (Eristalis gatesi).
It is similar in appearance to Eristalis circe Williston, 1891 and Eristalis persa Williston, 1891, but has different leg colouration.
Biology
Little is known of its biology, but most adults are found in association with flowers in the genus Senecio.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Paul Allen's flower fly” is species of insect. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Paul, Allen's and flower, not as a finished interpretation.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1953082. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1891.
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This entry incorporates text from “Paul Allen's flower fly” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.