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Unknown insect in near the flowers/deck
August 17, 2009
This thing spent most of its time flying about in the flowers, obscuring my view of it. Managed to get this shot when it finally landed on a piece of wood. I thought it might be some sort of wasp but can’t see a stinger.
Eric
Curlew, Washington (just below the Canadian border)

Unknown Robber Fly

Hi Eric,
We spent a few minutes browsing through the family Asilidae on BugGuide, without any luck identifying what we believe to be a Robber Fly.  Though we found numerous individuals with this color pattern, we could not find a conclusive match.  We will try to get some assistance from Eric Eaton to identify the species, or at least the genus.
Correction from Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The “robber fly” is actually an atypical tachinid fly, genus Cylindromyia.  Great shot of it, too!  This page from BugGuide gives more information, and there is an “images” tab at the top for more pictures.
Keep up the great work!
Eric

Thanks Eric,
We were going to research Tachinid Flies before posting, but time was running short.

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3. Unidentified Australian Tachinid Fly (January 22, 2007)
4. Tachinid Fly (August 29, 2008)
5. Tachinid Fly (February 8, 2009)