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Tiny green fly
I took this picture of a very tiny fly yesterday, and was wondering if you knew what the species was. He measured less than a centimeter head to tail. (Feel free to post the photo to the site, if you’d like.) Thanks!
Kerry
Hi Kerry,
This is a Long Legged Fly in the family Dolichopodidae. We believe it is in the genus Condylostylus. Long Legged Flies prey on small insects.
Bug Love
These seem to be Mosquito Hawks in love
Barb
Hi Barb,
Over the years, we have received numerous images of mating Crane Flies, sometimes called Mosquito Hawks even though they do not eat mosquitos. Your photo stands out from the crowd since the shallow depth of field and subtle backlighting nicely isolate the pair from their surroundings.
Hi Mr. Bugman!
I hope you can open this attachment and view this bug and let me know what it is…it’s making crazy, cause I can’t find out on my own…we’ve lived here for 8 yrs. and last year was the first year they appeared…i have a close up picture on a white background if you think you can analyze easier. These guys appear like they are floating or swimming underwater rather that flying…if you can let me know if the picture is good enough i’d appreciate it very much!
This is a Phantom Crane Fly, Bittacomorpha clavipes. Your description of their etherial manner of flight is quite accurate.
Bee? Fly? Beefly?
I took this photo of an insect that looks like half bee, half fly. I called it a beefly. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks! Enjoy your site immensely!
Doug Wulf
Hi Doug,
This is a Syrphid Fly. We believe we have found an exact species match on BugGuide with Helophilus fasciatus.
Hello, I have tried to get an ID on this insect.
The picture is taken in in Northern California (the foothills of the Trinity Alps) at about 2000 elevation. Here are two different photos. Thank you for any help you can give me.
Jim
Hi Jim,
We incorrectly identified these as Bee Flies, but you have set us straight.
Thank you so much for the compliment on the photos. I appreciate your time. At the same time I contacted you, I also went to a couple of other sites and found this identification: http://bugguide.net/node/view/40630 There seems to be a bit of difference between your ID and the ID on this site. I am not an entomologist but, rather, a hobby photographer who was curious about my find. Do you think the bugguide is on point? Again, thanks for taking the time and have a nice rest of the weekend.
Jim
Hi again Jim,
We will generally change our identifications if BugGuide, which is awesome, differs from us. If BugGuide believes these to be mating Small-Headed Flies in the Genus Eulonchus, we believe it.
you can see this bug i took photo of on this link. Any help i much appriciated 
Bocca
Hi Bocca,
You didn’t provide us with much information here. This is a fly, and appears to be a Crane Fly in the Infraorder Tipulomorpha. Those bushy antennae and the bold coloration are quite distinctive, but since you did not provide us with global coordinates, we cannot do better than Unknown Crane Fly.
thanks for the answer. I’m located in Europe, Serbia, Belgrade
Update: (05/30/2007) From Eric Eaton
” Oh, the unknown crane fly is some other type of phantom crane fly, I am pretty sure. Chen Young, who runs the Crane Flies of Pennsylvania website could tell you for certain. Eric ”
possible Black Soldier Fly
Hi. I’ve recently moved to a rural setting in Grady county in SW Georgia and I’m surrounded by all types of critters which are new to me. I ask for help verifying an insect as a Black Soldier Fly because I’m considering enlisting them in composting household food waste. The more I read about BSF the more I appreciate them. I’m curious what you’re feelings are about "using" an bug like this. Here is a link to a company which will soon be marketing a device for just that purpose. http://www.esrint.com/Bio.html The photo "possibleblacksolierfly" was taken in a house. The others were taken outdoors on food scraps. Thanks for the great website,
Jerry.
Hi Jerry,
Yes, this is a Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens. The white tarsi or legs, which are especially noticeable on the window photo, are a distinguishing feature. Though we know nothing about the product you mention, we would fully endorse if if it worked. Keeping the fly population going might be a problem.
Male Black Horsefly Sucking Blood?
Hello again,
It may please you to know that my 2 1/2-year-old son is finding both bugs (of which he went through a little terrified period just a couple weeks ago after a black ant pinched him kind of hard) and photography fascinating all of a sudden, since we’ve been spending a good bit of time browsing WTB looking for critters we’re turning up as spring springs here in our part of the world. With bugs he’s still not ready to touch them much, and when taking pictures he finds it easiest to aim the camera either straight down at something or to set it on a surface aimed at what he wants to capture, but it’s a good start on both fronts. Anyway, I was perusing pages looking for what I believe to be a rove beetle (but over an inch long), and we came across a post about a male black horse fly stating that only the females, which look noticeably different, suck blood. I thought critter in the attached pics was a black horse fly, but according to the description it must be a male so I’m wondering if anyone can explain the other attached pic? This was on my lower back, and of the six pics I took trying to get it’s mouthparts and the four other holes it punched in me (some of which you can just barely see around the little fella’s head) before it got this good one, only this image turned out at all clear. I let him eat as long as I could stand it, but I couldn’t wait for him to get his fill before I had to brush him away. This was also in Jacksonville, NC. Any thoughts? Peace,
Peace
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| Male Black Horse Fly | Female Black Horse vFly |
Hi again Peace,
You have correctly identified the male Blach Horse Fly, Tabanus atratus, on the plant, but if you look closely at the individual that is biting, you will see that there is a space between the eyes, indicating the she is a female. You must be quite limber to have gotten that photo of the feasting on your lower back. We expect to be seeing photos from your budding photographer in the future.
Ah! Thank you. I had fixated on this bit from an entry on The Big Black Horse Fly – “Females have smaller eyes *as well as having a white hairy thorax*” – rather than the entry on the Black Horse Fly. Thank you for clearing it up! We’ll definitely share anything DS captures that might be of use to WTB. I’m really looking forward to seeing what his eye is drawn to and how his personal photographic style develops. He sort of helped capture our possible rove beetle, but I can’t by any means credit him with having taken those pics, ‘though I will be sending one or two along for confirmation (if y’all have the chance to do so) once I get them uploaded, trimmed, and sized. As always, many thanks for your effort and dedication to this very good thing you’ve created. Take good care. :-> Peace,
Peace
PS I don’t know if I’m limber, or if the pain of the bite just distracted me from the pain of the stretch! 
I try to be generous with all the little critters in my immediate world so long as they’re not infesting homes or endangering lives, but dang, if these critters want to suck blood, they’ve gotta find a way to do it less painfully (and then maybe they can teach those skills to tax lawmakers.
Can you identify this insect?
Hello,
I found this in my lawn. It’s the size of a common housefly, but very distinctive with the clear/colored wings. It appears to have a nector probe. Any idea what it is? Thanks!
John
Hi John,
This is a Major Bee Fly, Bombylius major. It is a nectar feeding fly that is found in both North America and Europe.
What the heck is this thing???
Hello -
These larvae are in our swimming pool. I noticed them this morning submerged with their breathing "tube" attached to the water surface, similar to what you see with mosquito larvae. These are about 1 inch long. The top [left] picture is the dorsal view, and the bottom [right] is supine. If you are able to ID then my next question is if these are harmful to humans. Thanks!
Sam Rua
Tucson
Hi Sam,
This is some type of Aquatic Maggot, or Fly larva. We will bet on it being a Horse Fly Larva. We can find similar images online, including a drawing, but no exact match. BugGuide has an interesting entry from a person who was bitten by a Horse Fly Larva. As far as the adult flies go, only the females bite. Horse Flies are also known as Gad Flies. Eric Eaton then wrote in with the following comments: ” Daniel: I suspect these are actually the larvae of soldier flies (family Stratiomyiidae), but I’m not positive. Typically, horse fly larvae have a leathery appearance, and are much larger (mature specimens at least). Eric”
What is this please?
Hello bugman,
having looked through many websites without any success, you are my last hope! On 5th April whilst hanging out the washing at about 9am, I found this strange bug sitting on a peg on the washing line. There had been a frost that morning and the bug seemed very dozy! I was able to move the peg and bug so that I could photograph it (see attached). I took a couple of photos and put the peg and bug back where I found it. The bug had flown off by lunchtime that day. I live in Oxfordshire, UK and never seen anything like this before around here – can you help? Many thanks,
Gary
Hi Gary,
This is a Bee Fly in the family Bombyliidae. It looks very similar to the North American species in the genus Bombylius. Bee Flies are true flies with two, not four wings, and they feed on nectar and pollen.
Cool! This is Bombylius major, the Greater Bee Fly. This is the largest bee fly in England and the most commonly seen. The species occurs through Eurasia, and through the USA and most of Canada, and, according to what I read on BugGuide, it is the only species in these areas that has that crisp black and clear wing pattern. There’s lots of info and pictures of this critter on-line, including a very good entry on BugGuide. For some UK examples see: http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/beefly.htm and http://www.gwydir.demon.co.uk/insects/bombyliidae.htm
Susan
I entered this before
I sent this before but I don’t know if you got it. I photographed this bug last summer in Northern NJ. I have never seen anything like this before and if I didn’t have the one photo of it, I don’t think I could have convinced anyone else of it’s existence! It was only about an inch or so big, I had to zoom in to get a good photo of it. I only got the one photo before it flew away. Please help me identify this bug!
Sue Dericks
Byram, NJ
Hi Sue,
This is a Robber Fly that is known by the colorful name of the Hanging Thief.
