Slow and dumb
Location: South Central VA
August 27, 2011 5:23 pm
We LOTS of these fly’s, bee’s or whatever they are. They don’t have stingers and fly really slow and are really easy to swat once they have landed…. I call them the B-52’s of flies (fly slow and low)…What are they? We have a small goat herd with a couple of cows and pigs and these are in the barn. Once they get inside they gravitate to the windows, or up into the lights.
Signature: Fed up with swatting bugs
Black Soldier Fly
Dear Fed up with swatting bugs,
If you are truly “Fed up with swatting bugs”, then just stop. This is a harmless Black Soldier Fly. They are often associated with compost piles and similar habitats because that is where the larvae live. Black Soldier Fly Larvae are a positive contribution to a healthy compost pile. As you letter indicates, they do not sting, nor to they bite. We would urge you to learn to tolerate these harmless creatures.
1
Fly on Little Ladies Tresses
Location: Sayville, NY
August 25, 2011 9:02 am
Greetings,
I located a small stand of Spiranthes tuberosa in Sayville, New York. I noticed this beautiful little fly sucking nectar from the the orchids. The fly didn’t seem to favor any of the other flowering plants in the area. What is this fly? There were several of these flys on the orhids. Thanks!
Signature: Derek
Bee Fly
Hi Derek,
We recognized this individual as a Bee Fly in the family Bombyliidae, but we did not recognize the species. We quickly browsed through the possibilities and identified it as Peocilognathus unmaculatus on BugGuide.
Bee Fly
1
mydas vs. hornet
Location: Northern Indiana
August 25, 2011 10:21 am
This is not an ID request, but thought that other WTB addicts might appreciate it. This picture is not great quality, but here’s a link to the full video of a hornet attacking and decapitating a golden-legged mydas fly:
http://www.facebook.com/rumvillage#!/video/video.php?v=207796845940579&oid=116718851680137&comments
Signature: Vince
Bald Faced Hornet decapitates Gold Legged Mydas Fly
Hi Vince,
We were unsuccessful in locating a Golden Legged Mydas Fly online, but we did find Mydas tibialis on BugGuide. It is a species with no common name listed and it has been reported from Indiana. Your Food Chain image is wonderful. We wonder if the best Hornet hunters decapitate large and dangerous prey like Dragonflies, and then they communicate to the hive where to find the kill.
crazy looking bug
Location: atlanta georgia
August 24, 2011 10:57 am
On a rainy summer day in Georgia, I find two of these fast flying bugs in my car. The other was larger than this, but I managed to get it to fly out a window.
Signature: dj
Robber Fly
Hi dj,
Crazy Bug? What about the crazy photo. It is truly an awesome photo of a Robber Fly.
larval stage of what bug?
Location: Temecula, CA
August 23, 2011 9:19 am
This morning I found many of these dead under a hanging petunia basket, many dead in the family pool, and one crawling and almost ready to drop in the pool. They’re all about 3/4 inch long. I don’t know if they dropped from the basket because I had sprayed ant insecticide onto the slab(boy, we have been overrun with ants!)so they may have wandered into the dead zone from somewhere else.
They crawl like maggots but these don’t look like the housefly white larva.
Signature: Gene
Black Soldier Fly Pupa
Hi Gene,
We have categorized this as a Maggot on our website. It is a Black Soldier Fly Pupa. The Larvae of the Black Soldier Fly are very common in healthy compost piles, and they often wander away from the compost when it is time to pupate.
Tiger Bee Fly photos
Location: Los Angeles, California
August 23, 2011 4:12 am
I was able to identify this Tiger Bee Fly, thanks to this site! I thought you might like these photos I took yesterday. I had never seen one of these before, so I was very curious. This guy landed nearby on a white shirt I had hung up to dry. I think he stands out nicely against this background.
Signature: Adam Shipman
Tiger Bee Fly relative
Hi Adam,
We are happy to hear you were able to use our website to identify your Tiger Bee Fly, Xenox tigrinus, but we would advise you, and anyone else, to be sure to check our site against other resources since we are not infallible. BugGuide is always an excellent place to identify North American species from Canada and the United States. BugGuidelists the identifying features as “A large Bee Fly with a distinctive wing pattern. Note the large, wrap-around eyes.” We have observed that there is some degree of variability in the pattern on the wings between individuals. Since you indicated that the fly landed on a white shirt, we adjusted the levels in the corresponding RGB histograms to whiten the fabric.
Tiger Bee Fly relative
Ed. Note: We just received a comment correcting our identification and we agree that this is Xenox habrosus.
Daniel – What’s This Fly?
Location: Hawthorne, CA
August 21, 2011 8:21 pm
Hello,
I think I’m done taking pictures for the day, but here is a fly that is new to me. I can’t remember the name of the succulent whose tiny bloom it was feeding on, but have attached a picture of it. Thanks for everything!
Signature: Anna Carreon
Flower Fly
Hi Anna,
Though it doesn’t resemble your other Flower Fly that we recently posted, this is also a Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae. You will see by browsing through the images on BugGuide that this is a very diverse family.
Thanks very much. I do realize that this is a very diverse family. I did get a little more excited than normal about this particular fly because it’s so unlike most flies I’ve seen.
Anna
Ed. NOte: August 23, 2011
We believe we have correctly identified this Flower Fly as Pseudodoros clavatus based on photos posted to BugGuide. According to BugGuide: “Larvae feed on aphids.”
Daniel – New Fly
Location: Hawthorne, CA
August 20, 2011 1:29 pm
Hi,
Here’s another one of the many different flies that are attracted to the Eryngium tripartitum we planted this spring (the blooms smell a lot like cat poop). Can you identify it?
Signature: Thanks, Anna Carreon
Flower Fly
Hi Again Anna,
We are nearly certain this is a Flower Fly or Hover Fly in the family Syrphidae, however, we were unable to locate a match on BugGuide late last night. We hope to be able to identify the species for you before too long.
Flower Fly
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