from Turkey
Location: Turkey
September 3, 2011 3:59 pm
Hello,
I need help identifying about this insect, It looks like a bee but I think It’s not. Because have only two wing. I saw it at 21.05.2011 in Istanbul, Turkey. I m sending It’s photo,
Thanks for your help
Signature: berrin
Flower Fly
Hi berrin,
This is a Flower Fly or Hover Fly in the family Syrphidae. We do not have easy access to the species in Turkey, so we hope a family identification is sufficient for your needs.
Thank you so much for your help Mr. Marlos, this identification is very useful for me.
Best regards,
berrin
1
Robber Fly?
Location: Belleville, MI
August 31, 2011 11:09 pm
My Mom found this monster, recently-deceased fly today. Didn’t think it was a house fly…
Signature: Len
Horse Fly
Hi Len,
We believe this is a Horse Fly, and its eyes indicate it is a female, but we are not certain of the species. It does bear a strong resemblance to a mounted specimen on BugGuide that is identified as Whitneyomyia beatifica. We are going to see if Eric Eaton can provide any information.
Eric Eaton Responds
No, I’m pretty sure it is a species of Tabanus. I’m not an expert on the group, though….
Eric
1
hey got a doozy
Location: near derby ks
August 31, 2011 8:08 pm
We have these big guys flying all around our house. At first i thought it was some kind of hornet but I got this up close one just before sundown. I tried looking it up to no avail. Just really wondering. Looked really icky on my 42 inch large screen when i hooked my camera up to it. All the little ”hairs” on the legs were so weird.
Signature: Heebby Jeebies
Prairie Robber Fly
Dear Heebby Jeebies,
We were just going to try to classify this Robber Fly to the genus level and tell you it was a Hanging Thief in the genus Diogmites, however, we believe we might be able to do one better and identify it as a Prairie Robber Fly, Diogmites angustipennis, based on photos posted to BugGuide.
1
Yellow Mystery Fly and Spiny Oak Slug
Location: Kirksville, MO
August 30, 2011 12:49 pm
Hi again,
I’m fortunate enough to have a rather nice restored tallgrass prairie a short drive away from my apartment. There is a plethora of fascinating bugs there, most of which can be identified outright, or with a little researching. I have to admit, though, this fly has me absolutely stumped. I’m not sure if this helps, but it was resting on some ironweed when I snapped the photo.
I was rather happy, however, that thanks to your site I was able to quickly identify the spiny oak slugs that had taken up residence on a white oak at work. It seems like every time I walk by that tree I see more of them (and look, but don’t touch).
PS – The tick bites are still itching. If I had known it was going to be this bad, I would have bought stock in the producers of hydrocortisone!
Signature: EB
Fruit Fly
Dear EB,
Thanks to BugGuide, we were able to identify your Fruit Fly as Icterica seriata, and the only information BugGuide includes on the information page is: “Larvae feed in the flowerheads of Bidens species.” The ironweed your individual was resting on is not the Bidens mentioned as a larval food. We did find this nice profile of Bidens frondosa on the Missouri Plants website.
1
Fly which looks like a wasp
Location: Western NY
August 30, 2011 8:33 pm
Hi bugman! Long time no visit. Thanks for the last ID about a year ago or more. I was out carousing the fields of goldenrod and was checking out all of the bee varieties when I noticed this little guy wasn’t a wasp/bee at all, but pretty close! Curious as I could not find this in the fly section.
There are some other little bees that did not like my camera that I was trying to catch for an ID, but I had no luck. Almost looks like a honeybee caring sacks of pollen but definitely not as they are smaller. Hopefully next time.
Signature: Mark W
Flower Fly
Dear Mark,
It was very astute of you to recognize that this very effective wasp mimic is actually a fly. It is a member of the family Syrphidae, and the members of the family are often called Flower Flies or Hover Flies. Your individual is in the genus Spilomyia, and the angle of your photograph makes it impossible to make out the abdominal markings. We cannot be certain of the species, but we believe this is most likely Spilomyia sayi. You can compare your photo to the images posted to BugGuide.
1
Snowball Viburnum Denizens
Location: Trumbull, CT
August 29, 2011 6:58 pm
I tried to look up both of these insects, but I only found one. The first is an ailanthus webworm moth, but I don’t know what the second one is. I occasionally find interesting insects on the snowball viburnum bush in my front yard.
Signature: Chuck
Ailanthus Webworm Moth
Dear Chuck,
Congratulations on having successfully identified your Ailanthus Webworm Moth. Folks of a certain age and those who think flower power was the apex of 20th Century style will likely respond to the repetitious patterns and play on scale evident in this lush photograph. Your other insect is a Feather Legged Fly, Trichopoda pennipes, a member of the Tachinid Fly family Tachinidae. Tachinid Flies have larvae that are internal parasites of other insects, arachnids and certain members of other arthropod orders. In the case of the Feather Legged Fly, the host insect is a Stink Bug. Here is the BugGuide page on this species.
Flower Fly on Snowball Viburnum
Fly? Wasp?
Location: Hawthorne, CA
August 29, 2011 11:51 am
Hi, I think this is a fly but haven’t yet seen antennae like this. Can you help? Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry. (It’s yet another curious bug to land on the Sea Holly we planted earlier this spring.)
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon
Syrphid Fly
Goodness, Gracious Anna,
You are ground zero for Syrphid Fly diversity. Syrphid Flies in the family Syrphidae are commonly called Hover Flies or Flower Flies. Both names are descriptive. It looks like it might be in the genus Monoceromyia, as it shares so many physical traits with what the photographer calls the Mystery Mimic Fly, Monoceromyia floridensis, a Florida species that is pictured on BugGuide.
Flower Fly
Your Flower Fly really has interesting antennae. It is also a magnificent wasp mimic with that thread waist. We may wait until later to identify it to the species level, though we are pretty certain one very similar to it is already in our archives.
Robber Fly or something else?
Location: Adamstown, Maryland
August 28, 2011 8:57 pm
This 1 1/2” long hobo hitched a ride on my wife from the C&O Canal (Potomac River, near Point of Rocks, MD) to our house this morning. We’ve never seen anything like it, and would like to know what it is. Thanks in advance!
Signature: B. Saunders – curious photographer
Red Footed Cannibalfly
Dear B. Saunders,
You are correct that this is a Robber Fly, and we believe we have properly identified it as a Red Footed Cannibalfly, Promachus rufipes.
1
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