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Hover Fly

Bee Fly – Villa sp?
June 11, 2010
Dear Bugman,
I think I have this fly identified as being in the Bombyliidae family, specifically Villa sp. Am I correct? Thanks for your help!
Anna Carreon
Hawthorne, California

syrphid copestylum anna Hover Fly

Hover Fly

Hi Anna,
Though your fly looks like a bee, it is not a bee fly.  It is a Flower Fly or Hover Fly in the family Syrphidae.  We have matched it to an image on BugGuide, also from California, that is identified only as the genus Copestylum.  We believe it most resembles Copestylum marginatum, but all the images on BugGuide appear to be females.  Your fly is a male as evidenced by the closeness of his eyes.  Females have a space between the eyes.

syrphid copestylum anna 2 Hover Fly

Hover Fly

Posted 11 June 2010 § Syrphid Flies ‡ Comments (1) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Crane Fly: male Ctenophora nubecula

possible ichneumon wasp?
June 10, 2010
Hi Bugman,
I was wondering if you could help me identify this insect–I was thinking it was some sort of ichneumon wasp? I found it fluttering around on the ground; it was around 1.5″ long. I think the antennae are fascinating!
Dakota
Western North Carolina

cranefly dakota 300x206 Crane Fly: male Ctenophora nubecula

Crane Fly: male Ctenophora nubecula

Hi Dakota,
This is sure an interesting Crane Fly.  The feathered antennae are very distinctive.  We are going to begin searching the Crane Flies of Pennsylvania website in the hopes of properly identifying this spectacular Crane Fly.  The closest match we found, but one that is definitely not your species, is Limonia (Rhipidia) duplicata (Doane) on the Limoniinae subfamily page. BugGuide has an image of a Crane Fly from Alaska in the genus Ctenophora that also has pectinate antennae, but again, it is not a match.  We went back and looked at the genus Ctenophora on the Crane Flies of Pennsylvania website and we believe it must be the correct genus, but still no hit on species.  We will try to write to Dr. Chen Young for assistance.

cranefly dakota 2 300x238 Crane Fly: male Ctenophora nubecula

Crane Fly: male Ctenophora nubecula

Dr. Chen Young provided identification
Hi Daneil,
This is a male Ctenophora nubecula  http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/cranefly/tipulinae.htm#Ctenophora_(Ctenophora)_nubecula and here is a key http://iz.carnegiemnh.org/cranefly/idkeys.htm#23A to tell all the Ctenophora species apart in east North America.
Daneil, I was wondering if you would ask the person submitted the images if it would be okay for me to post these two images on the PA crane fly website.  The second image truely showed the characters of the structure of the antennae of this species.  A higer resolution of the images would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Chen

Thanks so much for all the information, and the speedy response! I would love to have my photos on the crane fly website. If he or any of his crane fly brethren come around again, I’ll try to capture a few shots.
Thanks again,
Dakota

Hi Daniel,
Thank you for all of your efforts and the images.  Please also give my regards to Dakota.
Best wishes,
Chen

Posted 11 June 2010 § Crane Fly ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Giant Robber Fly eats Buckeye Butterfly

Asilidae help
June 6, 2010
hello Bugman this is my first time doing this so bear with me. I am a 24year old aspiring entomologist from portage county (NE) Ohio. Besides the average ‘prairies and meadows bordered by woodlands’ can you reveal more information on where to find Promachus robberflies in this area? Your information will be greatly appreciated.
sincerely, Ben
hope this helps,
portage county ohio

giant robberfly eats buckeye hdr 300x233 Giant Robber Fly eats Buckeye Butterfly

Giant Robber Fly eats Buckeye Butterfly

Dear Ben,
This sure is a spectacular photo of a Giant Robberfly in the genus Promachus feeding on a Buckeye Butterfly.  Since we do not collect insects, we cannot offer much advice on where to hunt, and the information you provided on prairies and meadows is already indicated on BugGuide.  Perhaps one of our more knowledgeable readers will provide a comment on your posting.

Posted 07 June 2010 § Brush Footed Butterflies § Robber Flies ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Freeloader Flies share meal with Golden Silk Spider

Do Spiders regrow Legs? & what are these flies?
June 5, 2010
Recently had a small lynx spider on a plant in my yard (spring) missing several legs, I also noticed a golden spider missing legs in a web in winter last year. I’m curious do spiders regrow limbs lost? And also the same golden spider species seems to have flies on it or on its prey in the web, I have never seen this before and the flies seem to not care they were on a spider, and in its web..
Any idea what the flies are doing and what kind of flies they are..
Thanks, Dee
Polk County, Florida, USA

freeloader flies golden silk dee 204x300 Freeloader Flies share meal with Golden Silk Spider

Freeloader Flies share meal with Golden Silk Spider

Hi Again Dee,
The flies with your Golden Silk Spider are Freeloader Flies in the family Milichiidae.  According to Dr. Irina Brake  who coined the English name Freeloader Flies on her Milichiidae online website, some members of the family “are kleptoparasitic, feeding on the prey of spiders or predaceous insects.“  On the Biology of Milichiidae page, Dr. Brake indicates:  “Another very interesting feature of Milichiidae behavior is kleptoparasitism or commensalism. Species of several genera suck at the prey of spiders or predatory insects such as Reduviidae, Asilidae, Mantidae, or Odonata. Mostly they are attracted to predators feeding on stink bugs (Pentatomidae) or squash bugs (Coreidae) (Frost 1913, Robinson & Robinson 1977, Sivinski & Stowe 1980, Landau & Gaylor 1987). In almost all cases it is only the females that are kleptoparasitic. In some cases a close association between milichiid and predator has been postulated, because it was observed that the fly “rides” on the predator for some time, staying with the one predator rather than changing between different predators (Biró 1899, Robinson & Robinson 1977).“  Regarding the leg regeneration question, we have seen images of a Fishing Spider with several smaller legs, and the hypothesis is that if a spider loses its legs while very young, stunted legs may regenerate.  Alas, older spiders will not regenerate their legs.

golden silk amputee dee 227x300 Freeloader Flies share meal with Golden Silk Spider

Golden Silk Spider: double amputee

Dear Daniel,
Thank you so much for your time and all your information, I’m very surprised  that my ant is a fly hehe…
I guess you get an idea in your head of what a fly looks like and assume them all too be the same, or very similar.
In regards to the Freeloaders and Spider Limb regrowth, again i thank you for your time and information…
I’ve never seen flies do that so its really interesting to actually see them near spiders like that.
Its sad to know that adult spiders don’t regrow their limbs, I guess like everything they learn to adapt with their missing legs and get on with their life..
I appreciate all your help time and effort
Best Regards
Dee Walsh

Input from Dr. Irina Brake
June 7, 2010
Dear Daniel,
the flies on the Golden Silk Spider photo are too small for me to say
anything. The ones on the pod boring bug look like Chloropidae.
Best wishes,
Irina

Posted 05 June 2010 § Freeloader Flies § Orb Weavers ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Stilt Legged Fly

is This an Ant?
June 4, 2010
I found this ant outside on my wall then he flew to a chair, I’m located in Central Florida, Polk County USA..
I’m not sure if its an ant or other type fo bug any help would be appreciated… thanks icon smile Stilt Legged Fly
Thanks Dee
Florida Usa

stilt legged fly dee 300x170 Stilt Legged Fly

Stilt Legged Fly

Hi Dee,
This is a Stilt Legged Fly in the family Micropezidae.  According to BugGuide, they are “Odd little flies, known for their displaying (?) behavior of walking around and lifting their prominently marked front legs. Abdomen attached to thorax by “wasp-waist”. Likely ant or wasp mimics. The posture of the forelegs may imitate ant and/or wasp antennae and provide them with some protection from predators (speculation–Cotinis).“  We will leave species or genus identification for an expert in the field.

Posted 05 June 2010 § Stilt Legged Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

Human Bot Fly Larva from Belize

Human Bot Fly larva pics
April 29, 2010
Hey Bug Guys! I have some pictures of the Human Bot Fly larva that I picked up in Belize. (Perhaps more literally, they picked me…). I’d be happy to send them to you if you would like (and enjoy gross pictures).
Sierra

Hi Sierra,
By all means, please send them.  Please keep the subject line the same and include all relevant information.

botfly bite belize sierra 300x182 Human Bot Fly Larva from Belize

Human Bot Fly on Host

June 4, 2010
Hi,
Sorry it took me a while to get back to you.  The first picture is the back of my neck, where the larvae were growing (about 1 month after infection) and the second one is one of the larva next to a ruler (CM scale).  I had a miserable time convincing American doctors that I actually had these insects as parasites– they wanted to treat me for staph infections and paranoia.   I was only able to remove/kill them by covering their air supply in the skin with superglue left on over night.  I hope that anyone who thinks they may also have a bot fly infection finds this page and tries the superglue- nothing else I tried (suggestions from the internet of using meat or petroleum jelly) worked.
Thanks and enjoy!
Sierra Blatter

botfly larva belize sierra 300x233 Human Bot Fly Larva from Belize

Human Bot Fly Larva

Hi Sierra,
Thanks so much for providing this wonderful account and accompanying images of an encounter with a Human Bot Fly in Central America.

Posted 04 June 2010 § Bot Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

Another Tachinid Fly: Belvosia borealis

Tachinid Fly: Belvosia Borealis
June 3, 2010
Hi Daniel,
This fellow landed in a Chestnut tree today long enough for a few shots. I easily indentified it from a photo posted on your website. If I ever ran across one of these before I don’t remember it. (Probably just never noticed it) I do think I would have remembered the bumblebee colored butt though. Thanks for all you do and have a wonderful day.
Richard
North Middle Tennessee

tachinid belvosia borealis richard 300x243 Another Tachinid Fly: Belvosia borealis

Tachinid Fly

Hi Richard,
Thanks for sending us your excellent images of Belvosia borealis, a Tachinid Fly.  While the larvae are parasitoids, the adults feed on nectar and pollen as evidenced in your photographs.

tachinid belvosia borealis richard 2 300x174 Another Tachinid Fly: Belvosia borealis

Tachinid Fly

As a point of clarification, with the scientific binomial system of naming living things, the first word represents the genus name, and it is capitalized.  The genus is a grouping of closely related species.  The second word is the species name and it is written in lower case.

tachinid belvosia borealis richard 3 300x248 Another Tachinid Fly: Belvosia borealis

Tachinid Fly

Posted 04 June 2010 § Tachinid Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

Tachinid Fly

Bumble-sized white-faced bee-mimic fly. Botfly?
June 2, 2010
Saw several of these large bee-mimicing flies feeding on a flowering tree. Looked through 9 pages of bee mimics on WTB and didn’t anyone quite like it.
The bristly hairs on the back end seemed botfly-like to me, but google hasn’t turned up a winner there either.
Thanks for your help,
Bert
Southern Illinois

tachinid bert 300x225 Tachinid Fly

Tachinid Fly: Belvosia borealis

Hi Bert,
This is a Tachinid Fly, Belvosia borealis, and we matched it quickly to a photo on BugGuide.  According to BugGuide:  “Larval stages are parasitoids of other insects. Almost every order of insects is attacked by tachinids, including a few types of non-insect arthropods. Some tachinids are very specific and others can parasitize a wide variety of hosts. The most common hosts are caterpillars.“  BugGuide also indicates:  “Most tachinids deposit their eggs directly on the body of their host, and it is not uncommon to see caterpillars with several tachinid eggs on them. Upon hatching the larva usually burrows into its host and feeds internally. When fully developed it leaves the host and pupates nearby. Some tachinids lay their eggs on foliage; the larvae are flattened and are called planidia; they remain on the foliage until they find a suitable host.“

tachinid bert 2 300x231 Tachinid Fly

Tachinid Fly: Belvosia borealis

Their hosts would have to be something pretty meaty considering the size of the fly, will keep an eye on that tree this season and see what else grows there.
Thanks very much.
-Bert

Posted 02 June 2010 § Tachinid Flies ‡ Comments (0) °

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