fly?
Location: southwestern pennsylvania
June 2, 2011 10:34 pm
hello, I was walking around my farm with my camera and saw this stunning bug, a fly? or what else could it be.. gorgeous
Signature: robin
Hover Fly, we believe
Hi Robin,
We are relatively certain this is a Hover Fly or Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae, but we haven’t the time at the moment to browse the images on BugGuide to verify that identification and perhaps provide a species name.
What's That Syrphid Fly???
thanks so much, i browsed bug guide and didn’t find anything.. I will continue to search around thanks again!
Creepy black and yellow bug
Location: Tuscaloosa, AL
June 2, 2011 11:30 pm
So, this bug landed on my shoe while I was luckily not wearing it. I shooed it away a few times but it kept coming back and landing on that same shoe. Finally, my friend through something in the general direction of the bug (she has horrible aim and didn’t come close to actually hitting it) and it flew away. I grabbed my shoes and left before it had the chance to come back after that, but I was just wondering if you could tell me what it is that was hanging around us.
Thanks 
Signature: Kasey
Bee-Like Robber Fly
Dear Kasey,
This amazing predator is a Bee-Like Robber Fly, Laphria saffrana. We suspect the species name, saffrana, might refer to the legs which resemble saffron, though that is merely a guess. You can see additional images of this Bee-Like Robber Fly on BugGuide, and it could be noted that the data page on BugGuide indicates sightings from Alabama as well as surrounding states in the South. Many years ago we posted a photo of a mating pair of Laphria saffrana.
Bee-Like Robber Fly
Thanks so much! I think I took the picture back in March, but completely forgot about it until I was going through my camera the other day. I’m glad to finally know what it was, I had never seen one before and I haven’t seen one since.
Suffolk, VA black and white banded fly, elongated curved tail.
Location: Suffolk, VA USA
June 1, 2011 11:55 am
I found this fly hanging out by our garage mid-morning. I cannot find any pictures of it. As you can see from the pic, it has 6 legs. There is a shadow that makes it look like it has 8 legs. It’s tail was curved at the end. It was sluggish and did not fly away when my dog sniffed at it. I appreciate your help in identifying this insect. We live in a swampy area, summers are long and hot, and winters are mild here. We do not live near brackish water. Mostly all of it is fresh. Thanks in advance for your help.
Signature: Arlene Nygaard
Male Robber Fly
Hi Arlene,
This is a Robber Fly and the morphology of the abdomen indicates that it is a male. We haven’t the necessary skill to provide you with a definitive species identification, however, this photo on BugGuide of Efferia albibarbis is similar enough to be able to assure you that our general identification is correct. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to supply more specific information.
Ed. Note:
May 29, 2011
Though this letter was submitted nearly a year ago, we discussed with Frederique Lavoipierre the possibility of making the Tachinid Fly the featured Bug of the Month for June 2011.
What is this bug?
Location: Cloudcroft Observatory, New Mexico.
September 10, 2010 4:11 pm
Hello. I was curious about a bug I saw in the mountains at Cloudcroft, New Mexico. This bug was found at the Cloudcroft Observatory. It seemed a lot like a bee because it buzzed, but it looked totally different than one.
This bug was seen in August, 2010.
Thank you!
-Carly
Tachinid Fly
Hi Carly,
The color palette of your photograph is so beautiful. This is a Tachinid Fly, probably Adejeania vexatrix based on images posted to BugGuide. Adult Tachinid Flies take nectar from flowers, but immature larvae are endoparasites on a variety of insects and arthropods, often limiting themselves to a single species.
Tachinid Fly
Bug of the Month
May 29, 2011
We are taking this opportunity to make our readership aware of the beneficial flies in the family Tachinidae by linking to the BugGuide information page on the family. We are also providing a link to the Pacific Horticulture website and the online article on Tachinid Flies submitted by Frédérique Lavoipierre, Garden Ecologist. Here is an excerpt from that article: “Tachinids are the most diverse family of Diptera (true flies), and help control many pests; of the parasitic insects, only parasitoid wasps are of greater importance. All of the known species of tachinids are parasitoids: they deposit their eggs on or near host arthropods, and the larvae parasitize the host, in most cases resulting in the victim’s death. Parasitoids (as opposed to parasites) are free-living as adults; many of the common garden tachinids are flower visitors, feeding on nectar and pollen as adults. Tachinids parasitize a broad range of hosts from several orders of insects, among them Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Coleoptera (beetles, especially scarabs and leaf beetles), and Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets). In the Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, and ants), they specialize on sawflies, a common herbivorous pest. They are also known to attack a few other arthropods besides insects, particularly centipedes.”
Update: June 29, 2011
Hi Daniel,
Took me a bit longer than I thought to wrap up my thesis, and someone in the department just pointed out the tachinid ‘bug of the month’ to me yesterday. At any rate, it was very cool to see tachinids in a starring role!
F
small larve
Location: Randleman,NC
May 30, 2011 7:56 am
ifound this crawling accross my sidewalk one morning and it was unusual i have never seen anything like these before not knowing what they were i sprayed them with ant spray since we have a common problem around here with termites. the next morning same scenario in the pics you would see the dead ones from the day before. please help me identify the bugs in these pics. Thank You
Signature: IZZY
Fungus Gnat Larvae
Hi IZZY,
This is an aggregation of Fungus Gnat Larvae from the family Sciaridae. We have profiled this phenomenon numerous times in the past on our website. BugGuide provides this information: “Sometimes abundant enough to form a crawling mass of several inches across and several feet long, similar to armyworm migrations. (2). They feed on fungi in decaying plant matter (they often show up in potted plants that have been overwatered). [comment by Chris Borkent] They can be pests in green houses.”
Fly-like insect with black lacy wings&gold head or throat
Location: western Pennsylvania (Armstrong County)
May 29, 2011 11:41 pm
I have a photo of 2 insects copulating (at least ( believe that’s what they were doing) in the grass at Crooked Creek Lake/Dam/Park in Armstrong County in western Pennsylvania. I cannot find them in 2 insect books I have and have posted the photo on an About.com Insect forum. I have watched dragonflies and damselflies, and other insects while birding but have never seen this particular insect.
Signature: Thanks from a birder/nature lover
Mating Golden Backed Snipe Flies
Dear birder/nature lover,
Despite the blurriness of your image, these are unmistakably Golden Backed Snipe Flies, Chrysopilus thoracicus, and they are in fact “In Flagrante Delicto”. They were our Bug of the Month in June 2009. They fly in late spring.
Thank you, thank you, Daniel (Bugman extraordinaire). I have become almost as interested in insects as I was in birds and critters. I appreciate your ability to identify the flies in my poor “but idable” photo. I have photos of other insects I was able to id such as the 6-spotted Tiger Beetle some people misrepresent as the deadly Ash Borer and once while birding up near Punxatawney, PA on the Shadow Mahoning Trail a few of us were awed while watching a Giant Ichneumon Wasp fly around us (looking for a log to lay her eggs on no doubt) and none of us had a camera!!!
Marge from Armstrong County, Pa’
INSECT HUMANITARIAN OF THE WEEK: ANNA
Small Fly – Can you help, Daniel?
Location: Hawthorne, California
May 28, 2011 9:55 pm
Hi Daniel,
I fished this little guy out of the bird bath the other day and managed to get a semi-decent shot of it while it was recovering. Do you know what type fly it is?
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon
Long Legged Fly from Hawthorne California
Hi Anna,
Daniel would really like to use this photo in a powerpoint presentation on Southern California Flies. It is a LongLegged Fly in the genus Condylostylus which is well represented on BugGuide. Here is some information from BugGuide which tends to indicate that this is a beneficial genus of Flies: “Food Mouthparts are for piercing (with a short proboscis). Adults and larvae prey on small insects; larvae of some species mine stems of grasses and other plants or live under bark
Life Cycle Larvae develop in wet to dry soil and pupate in cocoons made up of soil particles cemented together. Adults mate after elaborate and unique behavior, involving the males displaying their legs to the female.”
Hi,
Of course it will be fine to use any of my photos in the powerpoint presentation. I’m honored that you asked.
Anna
Toxomerus marginatus (syrphid fly)
Location: Naperville, IL
May 25, 2011 8:14 pm
Dear Bugman~
It’s been a while! I photographed today what I swore was a sweat bee on my flowering chives. As I perused your site, exhausting the bee category, I came to the conclusion that it must be a fly. Starting at the bottom of the alphabet, I quickly came upon the Syrphid category. Is this a Toxomerus marginatus? Its markings look like it, although the abdomen on my guy is slenderer than on most of the Toxomerus marginatus photos I have seen. What think you? Thank you! -Dori Eldridge, Naperville, IL.
Signature: -Dori Eldridge
Syrphid Fly
Dear Dori,
We absolutely cannot resist a subject line with a Latin name that indicates that the querant actually did some research. We agree that this is a Syrphid Fly or Hover Fly or Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae, and we acknowledge that many Syrphid Flies mimic bees and wasps. It is also noteworthy that Syrphid Flies are good pollinators that really love umbel flowers like carrot blossoms and dill weed. Many Syrphid Flies have larvae that feed on Aphids. We don’t know if you have correctly identified this Syrphid as Toxomerus marginatus, but if we have time, we will look it up tomorrow and provide an opinion.
Update:
Hi again Dori,
After a good night’s sleep, we concur with your identification after checking the photos posted to BugGuide.
Thank you, Daniel!
I love flowers; I love birds; I love bugs. I love to take photos and identify them with proper names, so your help is enormously appreciated.
Thank you so, so much!
All the best,
-Dori Eldridge
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