Flies Archives - What's That Bug?

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Giant Western Crane Fly

On May 17, 2013 · Category: Crane Fly · Add Comment

Subject: What is this bug!!!???
Location: Portland, Oregon
May 16, 2013 12:26 pm
Hi Bugman..
My friend took a pic of this in Portland, Oregon. People are saying it’s a spider, but it has 6 legs! Looks like it has wings and a snout~
Signature: Thanks, Clancy

Giant Western Crane Fly

Hi Clancy,
This is a Crane Fly. Those black “knees” look distinctive, so we attempted a web search to determine a species identity and we found a similar photo on the Fontenelle Nature Association Nature Search website that is identified as Tipula dorsimacula. Though the images on BugGuide also have black knees, we are not certain of the species being correct for your Crane Fly, so we are contacting Chen Young, a Crane Fly expert for his opinion.

Dr. Chen Young responds
Daniel,
This one is Holorusia haspera, the largest crane fly species in the western states.
Chen

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Male Green Horse Fly

On May 16, 2013 · Category: Horse Flies and Deer Flies · Add Comment

Subject: Green Horse Fly
Location: Palm Coast, Fl
May 14, 2013 11:23 am
I saw this guy flitting about the plants near my house and he had me rather baffled to what he is. Thanks to your site I was able to identify him as the Green Horse Fly and also found out he was the harmless male (phew!). He made for a great bug model though, let me get real close without a worry. Bugguide says that only females seek out mammalian blood, so I guess males go after nectar of some sort? He was very interested in the wild flowers, and that’s where I lost sight of him. I love this site and I hope you guys like my photos.
Signature: Monica Velazquez

Green Horse Fly

Hi Monica,
We really do love your photo of a male Green Horse Fly, Chlorotabanus crepuscularis, the only green member of the family in North America. You can tell by the closely spaced eyes that your Green Horse Fly is a male.

Green Horse Fly

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Fly from Tennessee likely Dark Winged Fungus Gnat

On May 11, 2013 · Category: Gnats · Add Comment

Subject: Flying insect
Location: Hendersonville, TN
May 11, 2013 10:20 am
Hello,
I live in Hendersonville TN and recently painted the front of my home. In the past couple of days I have noticed hundreds of these bugs on the house, or flying around near the gutters. Can you please tell me what they are, and how to get rid of them. Are they termites?
Thanks
Signature: Greg Sisk

What’s That Fly???

Hi Greg,
We are uncertain how to classify this Fly. We thought it resembled a March Fly, and that would explain the large numbers, but the antennae are wrong for typical March Flies. Perhaps one of our readers can provide an identification. We have also requested assistance from Eric Eaton.

Eric Eaton Responds:
Reminds me most of a dark-winged fungus gnat, family Sciaridae, but could be a gall midge, too….
Eric

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Crane Fly from Serbia

On May 10, 2013 · Category: Crane Fly Tagged With: Unidentified · Add Comment

Subject: Unindentified Flying Insect
Location: Belgrade, Serbia, Europe
May 9, 2013 2:28 pm
Hello,
I caught this insect a this evening, and can not find it on Google, so I’m wondering if you could help me. I never saw an insect like this, not even remotely similar.
Insect was caught on May 9th, weather has been unseasonably warm for 3 weeks, I live less than a mile from the river. Insect is little over 1 inch long (from head to the end of the body, without antenna).
I hope you can help me find out what species is this,
thank you in advance,
Janja
Signature: Janja Bobic

Crane Fly

Hi Janja,
This is a Crane Fly in the family Tipulidae, and judging by those beautiful plumose antennae, this is a male. Crane Flies are true flies with a single pair of wings. We will contact Dr. Chen Young of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to see if he can identify the species. It looks similar to the Ctenophora species on Diptera Info.

Thank you so much for your answer, I really appreciate it. This beautiful insect sparked a huge interest in my class today.
sincerely,
Janja Bobic

Hi Janja,
We got an “out of office” reply from Dr Chen Young, but we might get an update from him in a few weeks.

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Greater Bee Fly

On May 5, 2013 · Category: Bee Flies · Add Comment

Subject: fly/mosquito/moth/wasp
Location: New Jersey, USA
May 5, 2013 6:46 am
this guy seems to be a combination of the 4
Signature: Susan

Greater Bee Fly

Dear Susan,
When the common name for Bombylius major was given, someone noticed that this True Fly had some physical traits that resembled those of a Bee, hence the moniker Greater Bee Fly. Indeed, the scientific binomial shares an ancient root with the tribe of Bumble Bees which is Bombini. The Greater Bee Fly is also found in Europe, including the UK, and it is unknown to us where the species originated. Your interesting subject line really caught our attention. BugGuide has this description of members of the Bee Fly Family Bombyliidae: “Hairy, often brightly colored flies. Legs usually slender, Wings often have dark markings, held outstretched at rest. Face not hollowed out. Eyes almost touching above, especially in males. Proboscis either short with broad tip, or long and used to take nectar. Hover and dart, rather like syrphid flies. Females sometimes seen hovering over sandy areas, dipping abdomen to oviposit.” Additional information on diet includes: “larvae are mostly external parasitoids of holometabolous, esp. soil-inhabiting, larvae (Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera), slowly consuming the host completely without making a visible wound; a few are endoparasites, predators (esp. on grasshopper eggs), or kleptoparasites; adults take nectar/pollen” and the life cycle is described as: “larvae undergo hypermetamorphosis: 1st instar larva is active and penetrates the host’s nest, then turns into a sedentary parasitoid; pupa is equipped with spines/spikes to drill out of the nest.”

Greater Bee Fly

Fascinating! Thanks so much!!

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Med Fly in Laguna Beach

On May 2, 2013 · Category: Fruit Flies Tagged With: Invasive Exotics · 1 Comment

Subject: Odd fly
Location: Laguna Beach, CA 92651
May 1, 2013 11:50 pm
This fly looks similar to a bathroom fly but is somewhat different. It was crawling on a piece of paper in our living room. I live in Laguna beach California.
Signature: Robert

Med Fly

Dear Robert,
This sure looks like a Mediterranean Fruit Fly or Med Fly, Ceratitis capitata, to us. See this matching image on BugGuide. The Med Fly rose to notoriety and became a Southern California icon in the 1980s because of the aerial spraying that occurred in many parts of Los Angeles in an unsuccessful attempt to limit the spread of this invasive exotic species. According to BugGuide: “One of the world’s most destructive fruit pests, and the most economically important fruit fly species. Each infestation detected in FL and CA triggered massive eradication and detection effort. In CA, large numbers of sterile males are released and are not uncommon in some places. A female (they have a visible ovipositor on the rear tip of the abdomen) would be a sign of an infestation, and should be reported immediately.” Your fly has an ovipositor, and we would strongly recommend reporting it to your local authorities. You can probably contact the Center for Invasive Species at UC Riverside.

Wow, I had never seen one before.
An interesting side note: My 6-year-old grandson, who loves
entomology, caught the fruit fly outside on a plant using a real
insect aspirator. He brought it inside to show me and it got out of
the holding tube.
BTW, I see you live in Mt. Washington. My son and daughter both have
homes in Mt. Washington and they love it. Also, you must be friends
with the entomologist Julian Donahue, who I believe lives there too.
Thanks for identifying this “bug”! I will call the Center for Invasive Species.
-Robert

Hi again Robert,
It really is a small world and Mount Washington is a gem of a community. Also I am friends with Julian Donahue and I just saw him last night.

Hello Daniel,
Yes, it certainly is a small world! Please give my regards to Julian
the next time you see him. He knows me as “Robin” as I go by both
“Robert” and “Robin.”
BTW, Nick Nisson, the county entomologist ad agricultural commissioner
of Orange County told me today that the sterile Med Flies that they
released were 50% male and 50% female. So he said not to be concerned
but that if I found the fly (which was inside my living room) to send
it to him for examination.
Very best wishes,
-Robert/Robin

Julian Donahue provides some insight
Small world indeed!
I’ve known Robin Commagère for decades, through The Lepidopterists’ Society. …
BTW, the sterile medflies released by the agriculture folks usually have spots of a pink dye on them, so that they can be differentiated from non-sterile (and therefore of concern) flies.
Julian

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Owl Butterfly Caterpillar with Tachinid Fly Eggs from Costa Rica

On April 27, 2013 · Category: brush footed butterfly caterpillars, Eggs, Tachinid Flies Tagged With: food chain · 4 Comments

Subject: I named him Ryno
Location: Costa rica Jungle
April 27, 2013 5:07 pm
This is a little friend I found deep in the Jungle in Costa Rica. Anyone who what he is?
Signature: Ryno

What’s That Caterpillar???

Dear Ryno,
We do not recognize this unusual looking caterpillar. Generally Butterfly Caterpillars are not hairy, but we suspect this might be a Nymphalid Caterpillar.

Keith Wolfe responds to our identification request
Greetings “Ryno” and Daniel, this is a last-instar Caligo atreus (http://janzen.sas.upenn.edu/caterpillars/dblinks/searchplaycat4.lasso?-Search=GCAcaterpillars337&herbivore%20species=atreus). Note the numerous white tachinid (http://www.nadsdiptera.org/Tach/Gen/tachintr.htm) eggs behind the head capsule, the inevitable doom of which it might possibly escape if pupation occurs before the maggots hatch.
Best wishes,
Keith

Hi Keith,
Thanks for getting back to us on this. We didn’t realize those were Tachinid Fly eggs. Good to know. We hope this Owl Butterfly Caterpillar escapes being eaten alive by the fly larvae.

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Possibly Tachinid Fly from New Zealand

On April 23, 2013 · Category: Tachinid Flies · Add Comment

Subject: Bristle fly
Location: Mokotua, near Invercargill, NZ
April 23, 2013 1:35 am
Hi there. This photo was taken in the autumn here, late in the day. The fly is on a Juncus rush, near a wetland area, with lots of native vegetation dominated by manuka. Hope the photo is clear enough.
Signature: Gay

Possibly Tachinid Fly

Dear Gay,
We believe this is a Tachinid Fly in the family Tachinidae. See BugGuide for additional information. The larvae of Tachinid Flies are internal parasites that kill their insect and arachnid hosts. Generally each species of Tachinid Fly is very host specific, so they are important biological control agents.

Hi Danial.
Thanks very much for that information. Confirms what our local bugman suggested, but interesting to hear that these flies are host specific and potentially a part of controlling pest species. Your time on this one is much appreciated. That’s an excellent website and resource you have there.
Cheers, Gay

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Giant Western Crane Fly

Male Green Horse Fly

Fly from Tennessee likely Dark Winged Fungus Gnat

Crane Fly from Serbia

Greater Bee Fly

Med Fly in Laguna Beach

Owl Butterfly Caterpillar with Tachinid Fly Eggs from Costa Rica

Possibly Tachinid Fly from New Zealand

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