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Tiger Bee Fly

Tiger fly photo
Location: Auburn, NJ
August 9, 2011 9:16 am
Hi Bugman, Not needing an ID, but I don’t see a way to send photos otherwise. Just saw the posting you made on tiger fly, and so sending a photo I took last month. It was hanging off the back porch. You noted in a related post, their larvae are parasitic to carpenter bees. Which makes perfect sense, since we have lots of those here, though I try to keep them from eating the porch rocker. Just spray a little repellent on the bottom side of wooden furniture, and it seems to deter them, at least awhile…but doesn’t kill anything.
I’ve learned a lot watching your posts. Thanks again.
Signature: Creek Keeper

tiger bee fly nj 300x233 Tiger Bee Fly

Tiger Bee Fly

Dear Creek Keeper,
It was incredibly thoughtful for you to send in this lovely image of a living Tiger Bee Fly.  It is much nicer than the dead image we just posted or the other blurry image we found in the email pile.  We know we also received at least two images of mating Tiger Bee Flies this summer and we can only presume that the image quality was not good enough to warrant posting.  We received so many Tiger Bee Fly identification requests this summer, so it is nice to have a good example for our readers to refer to.

Posted 09 August 2011 § Bee Flies ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Tiger Bee Fly killed unnecessarily

Ed. Note:  August 9, 2011
We just posted a photo of a Progressive Bee Fly and we realized that though we have received numerous requests this year, we have not posted any new photos of Tiger Bee Flies, Xenox tigrinus.  For various reasons, including poor image quality, or not enough time, those requests just got brief responses.  We went through our old emails to try to locate a more recent image of a Tiger Bee Fly, and we found this example of Unnecessary Carnage.  We hope our brief response has made Brian realize that he should allow these harmless pollinating insects to share his yard.  According to BugGuide:  “Larva is a parasitoid of Carpenter Bees, Xylocopa.”

Unknown bug
Location: New Jersey
July 20, 2011 10:01 am
What kind of bug is this please help I have tons of them in my backyard. It’s summertime
Signature: Brian McGinness

tiger bee fly carnage 300x200 Tiger Bee Fly killed unnecessarily

Tiger Bee Fly

Harmless Tiger Bee Fly.

Posted 09 August 2011 § Bee Flies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Progressive Bee Fly

Bee, Butterfly or Fly?
Location: Mt. Pleasant, Ontario, CAN (Southern Ontario)
August 8, 2011 4:21 pm
Could you please do your best to identify this insect? I found it on this milkweed plant and have never seen it before. Thanks.
Signature: Curious

progressive bee fly canada 300x219 Progressive Bee Fly

Progressive Bee Fly

Dear Curious,
At first glance, we thought this was a Tiger Bee Fly, but closer examination revealed our initial error.  This is actually a Progressive Bee Fly, Exoprosopa decora, which we identified on BugGuide using the pattern of the wings distinguished it.  Bee Flies are pollinating insects that are described on BugGuide as:  “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.”  We had decided to post your photo when we initially thought it was a Tiger Bee Fly, Xenox tigrinus, because we have received numerous images of the species this summer, but our most recent posting is from June 2010.  Seems we were either too busy to post the images we received this summer, or the quality was not that good.  We even received some images of mating pairs.  We feel we should search through old emails to post a recent photo, but that could take hours.  

Posted 09 August 2011 § Bee Flies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Golden Orbweaver snares Horse Fly

Black and Yellow Orb Weaver (male and female?)
Location: Milton, DE
August 7, 2011 9:27 pm
Heya Bugman!
My boyfriend and I found this gorgeous Orb Weaver while vacationing in Delaware this weekend. While we were taking photos of her, that black flying insect (any idea what it is?) got caught in her web. She was lightning-fast and had him wrapped up in seconds! A few hours later, we saw her snacking on her tasty meal. Bug on bug carnage!
We also caught a glimpse of a smaller spider nearby with similar coloring. The male, perhaps? Hoping you can identify that guy for us! Thanks!
Signature: Bruce and Ren

argiope bruce 221x300 Golden Orbweaver snares Horse Fly

Golden Orbweaver female

Hi again Bruce and Ren,
The Black and Yellow Orbweaver, Argiope aurantia, has several other common names and we generally prefer the name Golden Orbweaver.  That Fly looks awfully familiar, but we have been unable to correctly identify it at the time of posting.  It doesn’t match any of the Horse Flies we checked on BugGuide, nor could we match it to any Mydas Flies.  We will continue to research its identity.  We cannot say for certain if the smaller spider is a male, but this large female Golden Orbweaver looks to be filling with eggs.

argiope eats fly bruce 300x233 Golden Orbweaver snares Horse Fly

Golden Orbweaver snares Fly

As we were responding, we noticed you sent additional images and the smaller spider does appear to be a male Argiope aurantia.

argiope aurantia male bruce 300x198 Golden Orbweaver snares Horse Fly

Male Golden Orbweaver

Eric Eaton assists with Horse Fly identification
Daniel:
It is definitely a large female horse fly, maybe Tabanus atratus.  The “white” abdomen could be an artifact of the reflection of intense sunlight.
Eric

Hey again Daniel!
Horse fly makes definite sense to us. They’re everywhere near the beach in Delaware, as my very bitten up legs and arms can attest to!  And Eric’s theory of intense sunlight is spot-on.  Another picture we have shows nothing but black on the abdomen, so it’s entirely likely that I just caught the right angle to have the sun shining off the shiny part of the fly’s abdomen.  As for the spiders, we’re shocked!  We were speculating that it might be the male due to the similar coloring, but he was so small we nearly missed him and his web.  It’s hard to believe such a large spider and such a tiny spider are different genders of the same species!  Do the males make the stabillimentum as well?  We didn’t notice one in his web.  We really appreciate your help with identifying our interesting critters.  And thanks again for your amazing website!
Bruce and Ren

Hi again Bruce and Ren,
This BugGuide image nicely illustrates the size difference between the sexes of the Golden Orbweaver.  In most species of Orbweavers, the female is the larger of the pair, and in some species the size difference is noticeably great.  We have not seen any photos of male Golden Orbweavers with a stabilimentum.

 

Posted 08 August 2011 § Orb Weavers ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

St. Mark’s Fly from the UK

Insect we saw hiking in England
Location: England, Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Moors
August 8, 2011 12:01 am
We saw these hiking in the moors where there seem to be moisture (standing water or mud) and some present of ferns, but not always. Late July, early August. These insects would fly about us and often in front of us as we walked. They did not appear to want to land on us but were ”curious” or looking for a mate? We saw pairs of these insects often buzzing around each other mid flight for short periods of time. We saw a few on the ground where they seemed to stay motionless for some time. A type of wasp? Thank.
Signature: Travelmarx

st marks fly uk 300x224 St. Marks Fly from the UK

St. Mark's Fly

Hi Travelmarx,
This is a male St. Mark’s Fly or Heather Fly in the Bionidae.  Males have much larger heads and larger eyes than females.  You can see all the research we have done on this insect by viewing this old posting from our archives.  Related Flies in the southern U.S. are called Love Bugs because they are often found in the mating position.

2

Posted 08 August 2011 § March Flies and Lovebugs ‡ Comments (0) °

Drawing of a Robber Fly, we presume

Large Stinging Insect
Location: Inside a DSW Shoe Store, Durham, NC, USA
August 5, 2011 11:02 pm
Hello, I saw this bug in a DSW shoe store and was wondering what it was. I don’t have a picture of it, but I tried to draw it. I know it looks bad but I’ll try to describe it. It was probably about 1.5 to 2 inches long, and maybe a bit less than half an inch wide. It had large black eyes, a nose like thing in between, and a slightly furry dark green/brown head. The wings were clear and narrow, and reached about to the ed of the bug, although not past the stinger, which was large, about one centimeter. The abdomen was narrow. That’s the best I can describe it. Sorry I can’t give a picture.
Thanks a lot,
-Emma

robber fly drawing emma 189x300 Drawing of a Robber Fly, we presume

Robber Fly Drawing, we believe

Did it actually sting you or someone you know of?

No, I had just never seen anything like it before. But I look through some of the pictures on your website, and I think that it might be a robber fly.
Thanks!
-Emme

That was our first guess, however we needed to verify that there was just the perceived threat of a sting versus an actual sting.  Robber Flies do not sting, but many people mistake the ovipositor of a female for a stinger and Robber Flies are frequently mistaken for wasps.

Posted 08 August 2011 § Robber Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

Rodent Bot Fly

huge black fly
Location: northwest
August 6, 2011 10:55 pm
I live in the country. Eagle creek Oregon. Found this in the laundry room. Its huge! All black. Little wings on top of its shoulders. Is it a horse fly? I’ve never seen a fly this huge before. Its crawling on a quarter!
Signature: Tina

cuterebra tenebrosa tina 300x203 Rodent Bot Fly

Rodent Bot Fly

Hi Tina,
This is a Rodent Bot Fly, and we believe it is Cuterebra tenebrosa which we identified on BugGuide.  These Bot Flies are skin parasites on rodents, and the host insect for Cuterebra tenebrosa is the wood rat.

Posted 07 August 2011 § Bot Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

Hanging Thief

Unknown bug from Oklahoma
Location: Western Oklahoma
August 6, 2011 10:11 pm
I stopped at a gas station in Western Oklahoma (I believe it was Clinton, OK) and this bug was sitting on the ground next to the pump. It didn’t move the whole time I was pumping so I was able to grab my camera and take a photo. It was about 3 inches in length. I can’t find any matches online. Any help in providing an ID would be appreciated. Thanks!
Signature: -Gabe

robber fly gabe 300x210 Hanging Thief

Hanging Thief

Hi Gabe,
This is a Robber Fly, and we believe it is a Hanging Thief in the genus Diogmites.  We have been receiving numerous identification requests for Hanging Thieves in the past few weeks.  We believe your individual looks very similar to this unidentified Hanging Thief from Texas posted to BugGuide.

Posted 07 August 2011 § Robber Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

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